? heart failure in calf

[Joy]

Just wondered if anyone had any advice. We have a 3 month old xbred steer, about 350-400 lbs, that has a distended stomach on both sides, he is not bloated. The vet said he felt it was fluid outside his gut and compared it to heart failure in a human. He looks like a dairy cow with a big gut. Running temp of 104.7,

He said he would probably not make it, however advised us to give him LA200 and he gave him a shot of something, I don't know what and also some pills to give him. I hate to just give up and wondered if anyone had any similar experience, what causes it and what your outcome may have been. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. He said he felt he'd either make it in 2 days or be dead in 2 days. Thanks in advance.

 

[Farminlund]

I had one last year die of heart failure. I did not notice anything before it died ~ 250# & 2.5 months old. We did a necropsy & his heart & liver were very much enlarged (size of an 800# animal). His heart had not propery formed one of the valves & consequently it had to overwork itself to keep the proper amount of blood flowing - not sure why the liver was enlarged though.

 

[mermill2]

Dear Joy, Sorry to hear about your calf. Is the vet or can the vet prescribe a diuretic like lasix?? Lasix " pulls" fluid off of people. Could that drug or one like it, be used on the calf??? How strong is his heart? Could they use digoxin (slows and strengthens human hearts) or something similar on this calf? There are probalby new meds out there, since, I quit due to disability. What about that temp? What is causing it? He is a pretty sick calf. Sounds like it could be a genetic problem. Sincerely Merry

 

[Michelle Pankonien]

Hello,

Have seen calves with heart murmurs, they die young, not cost effective to diagnose or treat, via Cardio Echo or meds to improve heart function, both require a specialist of veterinary cardiology, we have treated pet goats for cardio myopathy but they were "Pets", with cattle, which are primarily for reproduction, why would you use an animal like that for breeding, just cut your loss and move on

with a distended abdomen, I would say it is more likely to be a digestive system that did not develop properly, unless the vet tapped the abdomen or the chest cavity and identified the fluid as chyle or accities, they have no idea what the cause is, and with LA 200 there is a withdrawl period, so now you can't even salvage the calf for veal for home consumption for a while

 

[Stocker Steve]

We have a 3 month old xbred steer, about 350-400 lbs, that has a distended stomach on both sides, he is not bloated. The vet said he felt it was fluid outside his gut and compared it to heart failure in a human. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I used to buy animals like this out of the Sales barn. It was very educational! We have turned around several and had to post two. The ones we upgraded were given MuSe (to improve white muscle performance) and put on good pasture (vs. being pushed around in a dry lot). The big water belly look went away.

The two we posted had infected heart sac and an enlarged heart with an absess. The vet thought an extended period of antiobtics might have helped but it was a little late by then. I did not check their temp.

They can live with this type of condition for months, but if you put some stress on them they will quickly become dead stock... I would try MuSe, TLC, and good feed for a couple weeks, then veal him if he does not turn around.

 

[Cowboy 2.0]

Dear Joy, Sorry to hear about your calf. Is the vet or can the vet prescribe a diuretic like lasix?? Lasix " pulls" fluid off of people. Could that drug or one like it, be used on the calf??? How strong is his heart? Could they use digoxin (slows and strengthens human hearts) or something similar on this calf? There are probalby new meds out there, since, I quit due to disability. What about that temp? What is causing it? He is a pretty sick calf. Sounds like it could be a genetic problem. Sincerely Merry

We still use Lasix when needed.