lost sucking reflex

[razorback]

Hi i am new to this forum, I was given a 7 day old Chianina heifer calf as she did not suck from her mum, and they are unable to look after her anymore (they had been feeding her). I am bottle feeding her by squeezing liquid into her mouth she doesnt suck. I feed her morning and night 2litres of milk and 1litre of electroytes during the day as we are having hot weather (nsw australia). Will her sucking reflex come back or do i perservere until i get her onto a bucket. Please help

 

[dun]

2 things come first to mind. One is she may need selenium for muscle control and the second is some type of defect in her mouth. Will she suck your fingers, if not she may not even be able to suck up milk from a bucket.

 

[razorback]

i have tried ptting my finger in she tries to chew more than suck. Someone else has mentioned vit e and selenium so i am calling the vet in the morning. fingers crossed this works. thanks

 

[dun]

It's called BO-SE, selenium and vitamin E. The same as MU-SE except the dosage size. BO-SE is 1 mg/ml of selenium and MU-SE is 5 mg/ml of selenium.

 

[farmwriter]

The only bottle calf I ever took on that didn't make it was the only one I ever had that wouldn't consistently suck after figuring out what the bottle was. It was a huge calf the mother rejected and in addition to having front legs that were way contracted, the calf just didn't seem right. The owners sent with her this metal curvature funnel that they called a drench (I don't know if it was just really old or what, as I've seen something labeled as a drench since then that was much easier to deal with than that medieval contraption) and that was a truly frustrating experience.
Since the time I first saw selenium deficiency mentioned on CT, I've wondered if that's what was wrong with that calf and if I could have saved it with BO-SE.

 

[dun]

The only bottle calf I ever took on that didn't make it was the only one I ever had that wouldn't consistently suck after figuring out what the bottle was. It was a huge calf the mother rejected and in addition to having front legs that were way contracted, the calf just didn't seem right. The owners sent with her this metal curvature funnel that they called a drench (I don't know if it was just really old or what, as I've seen something labeled as a drench since then that was much easier to deal with than that medieval contraption) and that was a truly frustrating experience.
Since the time I first saw selenium deficiency mentioned on CT, I've wondered if that's what was wrong with that calf and if I could have saved it with BO-SE.

BO-SE isn;t a miracle worker although sometimes it seems like it is. We had a premature calf that wouldn't/couldn;t stand when we tried to lift it it would curls it's legs under like a cat does when you pick them up by the back of the neck. Tubed her with colostrum and it didn;t do anything. Gave it a shot of BO-SE, 5 minutes later it jumped to it's feet, kicked me in the shins and ran over to her mother.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Sometime you just get a dummy calf, I have seen this occur due to nitrate poisoning as well.
I have wrassled around with them for as long as two or three weeks before I could get them back on the cow.
Now I just give them away, don't hassle or wrassle with them anymore.