Down calf

[Anonymous]

We have a six month old calf that has gone down and wont get up...have had the vet up and he feels it is due to worm burden and a secondary infection ?what.
He has given it a long acting antibiotic and has told us to continue what we are doing for it: fresh grass, hay, ground barley with molasses, salt lick and fresh water. We try and stand it twice a day, and alternate the side it's sitting on. It appears interested in eating and quite perky, just won't/can't get up. When we do stand it, it is quite an effort for everyone involved. Takes weight through it's front legs after a wee while standing, but it's back legs don't seem to weight bare at all.
The plan this weekend is to make a sling to support it better while we try and stand it.

What I was hoping to find out was...anything else we need to try or should be doing?
Also any one else had a success story to keep our hopes up

 

[Howdyjabo]

Does the calf look wormy- emaciated, white eyelids(anemia),dull shaggy coat, dull eyed ect...
Does the calf have a temp?

If the calf looks otherwise healthy----I would look into Poliencephalitis , listerosis, and a REAL stretch menengeal worm(there have been at least two confirmed cases of cattle suffering from it).

Unless the calf looks like crap-- worms doesn't sound right.

Karen

 

[Anonymous]

Is white muscle a problem in your area? I've seen them down with it (vitamin E/Selenium) so badly that flies were walking on the eyeballs, the calf I'm most familiar with (I took her to my place to recover) made it with only a wee wobble to the hind end...

Good Luck
V

 

[Double R Ranch]

I have had a lot of problems with white muscle disease. It is not pretty! I am here in california. We lost 2 and almost lost 2 more. My vet didn't want to take the time to figure out the problem so we lost 2 before we were able to diagnose it.