lepto?

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russ cleaver

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have a calf that is acting weak and uncoordinated,it is 4 days old and seems to be going down hill. an older cattleman thinks it may be lepto. thought cows aborted if they had lepto.
 
Cows with lepto will typically abort around the seventh month of gestation. You can find more information by doing a google search. I would look for other more common reasons first (ie: pneumonia, starving, trauma).
 
Is the soil in your area low in selenium, and/or have you given it a selenium shot?
 
russ cleaver":3p3snu4x said:
have had the cow for about five yrs never had a problem before. what does selenium do? thank you all.

Do you vaccinate? Do your share bulls? (put yours in another pasture for breeding?) Have this problem with other animals in your herd?
 
no , we have not vacinated,do not share bulls. this is the only new calf of three born on same day in same pasture to act this way.
 
russ cleaver":2rg2qvyi said:
no , we have not vacinated,do not share bulls. this is the only new calf of three born on same day in same pasture to act this way.

You mean never vaccinnated the cow?...with anything? I would suspect pnuemonia first and give some antibiotic, but I would also began a vaccination program where you inject a Vibrio-lepto vaccine prior to each breeding season anyway. Is the calf suckling? Does it have a milk snout? (dry milk mated hair on the top part of the snout?) If the calf is weak and/or staggering I would give it LA-200, and maybe some electrolytes. Just don't let the calf aspirate any of the fluid. Keep the bottle lower than the head until you get the tube inserted in the proper location (esophagus) before tilting it up and putting it down the hatch!

P.S. Make sure another calf is not stealing the milk from "it's" moma.
 
I just had a 6 day old calf die today with the exact same symptoms you are describing. The vet told me in was pneumonia. Hope you have better outcome than me.
 
Selenium deficency causes "white muscle disease"; symptoms are lack of coordination, stumbling, inability to move one or more limbs (ie- walks without using a front leg), etc. I've had lambs with it, calves that I've suspected had early stages of it - can be treated and cured with several cc's of Bo-Se or Mu-Se. Our area is very deficient in selenium. Bo-Se and Mu-Se are prescription drugs, but you should be able to get it from your vet.
 
my vet has told me that lepto will cause a calf to grow of poorly and be more sickly than the rest...

if it is pneumonia, the calf most likely will go down fast, so i would advise you to keep a close eye on it.

of course, the best advice i guess i could give you is to check with your vet.

jt
 

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