Mysterious Mo

[fourstates]

This is Mo. He is slow.

I do not know why Mo is slow.

He won't play, He just lays around all day.

Play Mo, Play! Mo says " No way!"

Mo won't go, but he likes love though.

Go Mo! Go!

He hurts somewhere, but I don't know!

This calf is a month old and walks like an old man. He has been like this from birth. He acts like he is in pain. He has been seen by two vets who have both ruled out joint ill. He eats like a pig and is healthy except for the slow, painful movements. He has finished a round of steroids, with only a very slight improvement. He grazes some and occasionally will eat hay. I used banamine some at first but couldn't keep him on it forever. If he is laying down, he is bright and alert and when he gets up he nurses agrressively. He is just Slo-Mo! Any ideas?

 

[rockridgecattle]

Have yoy tried selenium?
When I saw his first pic, before reading your commentary, my first thought was pnemonia.
How are your herd health vaccinations? This could be a PI BVD or IBR...just thoughts

RR

 

[2/B or not 2/B]

We had a calf that was copper deficient and was getting very lethargic. Her coat looked rough and dull though and I can see that Mo's is shiny. Our vet recommended giving her multimin which has selenium, magnesium, copper and zinc. We also gave her B vitamins. She perked up dramatically within a few days.

Good luck with Mo. =)

 

[bward]

Whats wrong with Mo?
I don't know
But somethings not right
That I know.

Could be a multitude of things but it certainly does not look nutritional in my opinion.
He does look like he is in pain and to me it looks like belly pain. I had a calf like that and could not figure it out until the calf was a couple months old and he had an sclerosing infection of the umbilicus that was slowly occluding the intestine so the calf was suffering from gut cramps constantly as the food was getting pushed through a narrowing gut. His naval looked much like your calfs with no evidence of infection. There was no obvious swelling , no pus, no fever, the calf was slightly hang headed and blah.
My calf was cut open and there was a mass the size of a baseball. This mass had been infected, then the body sealed it off with tissue, then it broke through and the body again sealed it off with more tissue until there were layers of tissue and within it a loop of dying intestine. The vet spent 40 minutes cutting and peeling this loop of intestine off and removing the mass of tissue. about a foot of purple necrotic intestine was removed and the healthy ends sewn back together. The calf was successfully sewn back up and the vet gave him a 50/50 chance of survival. The calf went right to nursing when we got him back home and for a few days the poop that came out was unprocessed white milk. The 'guts' had to acclimatize to no longer pushing the food through the restriction with such force. After that the calf thrived.

I don't suggest that the vet just cut the calf open without a reason to, but perhaps a blood test would give him more clues as to what is going on with him. That would rule out infection via white cell count, anemia via red cell count etc.

 

[bigbull338]

that is a head scratcher.just keep doing what your doing to figure out whats wrong with him.that maybe something you never know.as he maybe 1 of those calves that either makes it or doesnt.

 

[I luv herfrds]

I couldn't tell by looking at the pictures, but does Mo's knees bend correctly? Does he seem to walk on his tip toes?

Now last year we had a heifer calf that acted like she was in pain and moved slowly. Called our vet in, found out that it was like rhumathoid(sp?) arthrits. Her mom had eaten some purple lupine. Have had it happen before, but much more severe in another calf.
Same type of symptoms.

 

[hillsdown]

Well judging by how shiny Mo is and the health of his hide I don't think it is an illness.
There must be something affecting his joints. I think I have to go with ILH ,mom may have ingested something during pregnancy that has effected the calf's joints.

Did your vet think that eventually he will grow out of it ? Have you tried Anifen?

 

[milkmaid]

Have the vets checked for and ruled out pneumonia?
Have you given him selenium?

 

[fourstates]

Sorry I haven't replied. After reading the replies, I went back and inspected the calf more closely. I had not considered gut pain. Very carefully tubed some oil and gave a enema. Everything that came out looked like normal milk poop. Waiting on the oil. His temp is 102.6. It is a warm day.

Came back and read bward's post. Back to the pasture, flipped Mo over. Felt the navel area, no swelling no heat, pushed the hair out of the way and found a dry pus area on his navel, no drainage, but I touched it, and it stunk. Back to the house grabbed a chlora-hex surgical scrub, 10 cc @ nuflor, LA200 and Dex. Scrubbed the area til it opened, not much drainage, but definately an infection. After cleaning it out, I Inserted a tube of mastitis treatment in the hole. Gave the injections. Gave some aspirin.

So it just may be joint/navel ill....I hope it hasn't gone on too long.....we will know to-morr-ow.

We don't live in a selenium deficent area. And I did not think pneumonia, cause of no fever and no labored breathing...however, the nuflor works well for both pneumonia and joint infections. Thanks.

 

[hillsdown]

Well it sounds like you found the problem ,kinda sh@tty that the vets couldn't have caught it but I guess they are only human after all ;-) .

Good luck with him; he looks rather healthy for a naval infection so you may be OK with this one.

 

[fourstates]

Mo feels better today! He got up and tried to play.

 

[grannysoo]

Looks like you may have found the problem! Glad to see that Mo is Mo-ving around better.

 

[bandit80]

Mo feels better today! He got up and tried to play.

Good to see that Mo,
is not moving so slow.

Looks like he wants to play,
in the light of the day.

He looks good jumping around,
I'm glad the problem was found.

 

[texast]

Thank God Mo isn't slow no more.
That heifer is a looker that wants to play with Mo are they Beefmasters?

 

[fourstates]

I am sad to say Mo had a bad day. He did not run and had no fun.
He went on his first trailer ride, for free, to see vet number three!

He thinks no infection. (confirmed by only slightly elevated white count) he is slightly anemic. He's thinking autoimmune (like rheumatoid arthritis). He said the navel is well healed now, but.....

I was sad to hear that Mo will become a steer.

 

[Double R Ranch]

We are sorry to hear about your calf. Good thing you posted for advice. It always helps to refresh your memory. Glad you caught the infection, sorry to hear he isn't better. Keep us posted.
Double R

 

[fourstates]

Unless some miracle occurs overnight, I am going to have Mo euthanized tomorrow. It is obvious he is in pain, even though he eats well, I am afraid every ounce he gains is increasing his pain. I do not see a happy ending to this story. If I had known he would suffer so much, I sure would have done this sooner. Now, no one in our family has the heart to shoot him.

 

[Brandonm22]

Euthanizing a calf that is eating and growing (when you don't even know what is wrong with him) is awfully extreme. They are cattle NOT dogs. Mo should weigh 500 pounds in six months. Cattle are very resilient animals. He is not scouring. You don't have to lift him up. He is nursing. I probably would NEVER have even noticed whatever is ailing him and if I did a PennG treatment would have been the most that I would have done for him. Let him live, leave him alone, and HOPE for the best. It is possible that he will just lay down and die (not knowing what is wrong with him I can't even hazard too guess the outcome) and it is quite possible that he will grow out of it too. I would give him a chance.

 

[fourstates]

You know, Brandon, that's why no one here wants to shoot him, he does eat, and is growing well. But, he can barely walk, and I sure couldn't "run" him through a sale ring. Is that how you tell when it's time to put an animal down, when it won't eat?? I'm really torn.

Baxter78, you are a mess.

 

[Brandonm22]

You know, Brandon, that's why no one here wants to shoot him, he does eat, and is growing well. But, he can barely walk, and I sure couldn't "run" him through a sale ring. Is that how you tell when it's time to put an animal down, when it won't eat?? I'm really torn.

Baxter78, you are a mess.

Give him 6 months. He can only get worse, get better, or stay the same. If he gets worse he will eventually be unable too stand unassisted (shoot him then). If he gets better you eventually get a check for a 400-500 lb steer. If he keeps eating and growing well, but he really can't move well enough to run through a stockyard THEN take him too a processor and put 300 lbs of stew meat and spaghetti meat in your freezer.