Joint ill

[beefgirl]

Anybody ever have a calf with joint Ill that they have successfully treated? I have been treating this calf for close to a month per vet recommendations and does ok for a week or so and then relapses. Currently in both front knees and possibly back hock. About 200 to 225 pound 4 month old calf. Treated with resflor gold, Draxxin, nuflor, and cocktail including penicillin, resflor, vitamin shot, and tetanus shot. This is fourth calf I've ever seen with joint ill and only saved one 2 including this one) out of the four. Treating with meloxicam for pain relief. Don't know if I should keep trying to treat or just put it down. More concerned about him suffering at this point. Any help, hints, tips appreciated.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Wish I knew what to do to help.
Hopefully some others will know!

 

[Double R Ranch]

I had a case some years back. A holstein graft calf from a dairy. Treated for at least a month with a vet. Couldn't get it to go away. Finally as a last ditch effort gave pain meds, clipped, cleaned the knees, stuck a large needle in them and drained the puss out. Hit with another round of meds and that finally knocked it out. Calf went on like he'd never been sick. Hope you can figure out how to get him turned around.

 

[BritishWhiteGal]

Draining it most times is the only thing that saves them from my opinion. like @Double R Ranch said...
I've been so persnickety careful about this I haven't had problems for a while so I ain't the most experienced.

 

[TCRanch]

My only case of joint ill, I caught it early and knocked it out with 2 rounds of Resflor Gold. BUT I had a steer last year with a snake bite and my vet had me treat as if mycoplasma or severe joint ill. Comparable to what you're already doing except my vet had me administer Dex every day over a 10-day period, 5cc IM.

Good luck!!!

 

[Travlr]

This is why I never bred my cows to calve past the last snow.

 

[beefgirl]

I had a case some years back. A holstein graft calf from a dairy. Treated for at least a month with a vet. Couldn't get it to go away. Finally as a last ditch effort gave pain meds, clipped, cleaned the knees, stuck a large needle in them and drained the puss out. Hit with another round of meds and that finally knocked it out. Calf went on like he'd never been sick. Hope you can figure out how to get him turned around.

This one is also a graft calf. I'm having vet out Saturday to preg check cows. I think I'll see about having him drain knees out. I don't know if I can stomach doing that myself.

 

[beefgirl]

My only case of joint ill, I caught it early and knocked it out with 2 rounds of Resflor Gold. BUT I had a steer last year with a snake bite and my vet had me treat as if mycoplasma or severe joint ill. Comparable to what you're already doing except my vet had me administer Dex every day over a 10-day period, 5cc IM.

Good luck!!!

Thanks. I'll give the Dex a try along with draining the knee. IM shots are easier for me than sq so that's a plus.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Was it born in a clean field otr a dirty pen?

 

[beefgirl]

Draining it most times is the only thing that saves them from my opinion. like @Double R Ranch said...
I've been so persnickety careful about this I haven't had problems for a while so I ain't the most experienced.

I dip all of mine born here on the farm right after they are born but this was salesbarn calf

 

[beefgirl]

Was it born in a clean field otr a dirty pen?

No idea. Salesbarn graft calf came with cow I bought.

 

[beefgirl]

Wish I knew what to do to help.
Hopefully some others will know!

I'm happy to say I'm getting some good ideas. This is the calf that came off that jersey nurse cow.

 

[kenny thomas]

Its been a while but i seem to remember that alot of strong antibiotics will cause joint swelling in small calves.

 

[Nesikep]

I've never had joint ill, but have had quite a few cases of navel ill, catching it early always seems to be the most important, or you have an uphill battle.. My last calf got it, and a shot of draxxin cleared it up, noticed it around day 3.

If I was to drain the joint, I'd probably put a couple CC of LA200 in there at the same time and get it right to the source of the problem.. Just things I'd try though

 

[beefgirl]

I've never had joint ill, but have had quite a few cases of navel ill, catching it early always seems to be the most important, or you have an uphill battle.. My last calf got it, and a shot of draxxin cleared it up, noticed it around day 3.

If I was to drain the joint, I'd probably put a couple CC of LA200 in there at the same time and get it right to the source of the problem.. Just things I'd try though

Can't hurt. I'll see if vet will do that after he drains it.

 

[TCRanch]

IM shots are easier for me than sq so that's a plus.

Yup! I'd just give him some cubes, walk up and give the shot when he wasn't paying attention. No hassle & subsequent drama getting him in the chute.

 

[Double R Ranch]

This one is also a graft calf. I'm having vet out Saturday to preg check cows. I think I'll see about having him drain knees out. I don't know if I can stomach doing that myself.

Ours actually got an infection from the metal tag the dairy put in his ear. Didn't see any signs of the infection until after the joint ill took hold. No swelling in the ear or anything. At that time I didn't even know that was possible. It never even looked infected till the vet took the tag out and it oozed minor puss. Was a wild case for us.

 

[beefgirl]

Ours actually got an infection from the metal tag the dairy put in his ear. Didn't see any signs of the infection until after the joint ill took hold. No swelling in the ear or anything. At that time I didn't even know that was possible. It never even looked infected till the vet took the tag out and it oozed minor puss. Was a wild case for us.

This calf had sores from losing a bunch of hair and being down for 10 plus days and also had an open wound between his front legs that wouldn't heal that I treated for weeks/months. As far as I know his navel was never infected but as you said they can get joint ill from other sources. Did your calf recover? I hate those metal tags. I've had issues with them getting infected.

 

[angus9259]

worst one I had - as has been said - the vet came and drained and then ran a saline solution through the knee. that worked.

 

[beefgirl]

Anybody ever have a calf with joint Ill that they have successfully treated? I have been treating this calf for close to a month per vet recommendations and does ok for a week or so and then relapses. Currently in both front knees and possibly back hock. About 200 to 225 pound 4 month old calf. Treated with resflor gold, Draxxin, nuflor, and cocktail including penicillin, resflor, vitamin shot, and tetanus shot. This is fourth calf I've ever seen with joint ill and only saved one 2 including this one) out of the four. Treating with meloxicam for pain relief. Don't know if I should keep trying to treat or just put it down. More concerned about him suffering at this point. Any help, hints, tips appreciated.

So I had the vet look at him today. I had talked to him prior and told him I wanted fluid taken out of the joint and antibiotic in the knee. When he examined him he decided it was more in the joint near the shoulder and elected to treat with shot of az Tran and shot of dex. Left me a shot to give him again Sunday night or Monday morning. See if he improves in the next week or two. Seems to me that unless you want to take calf to university all the rural vets want to do is just give them a couple shots and be on their merry way especially if it's just a commercial calf. I hope he didn't charge me much cuz I could have done that myself. I might just get a big/small(?) needle and do it myself.