Mystery Ailment for Newborn Calf?

[ThumbHereford]

First time poster, and lots of information coming next. I have a hereford heifer calf born to a first time heifer on February 11th, the birth was unassisted and weighed 88 lbs. On Sunday Feb. 15th the calf became very depressed, cough, temp was 102.6. Called the vet, we administered 3cc of LA 200 SQ and banamine 1cc orally. Monday the 16th, calf had a very bad rattling sound in lungs, lots of mucus coming up, and she would put her head down to the ground. So we called the vet, this time he came out to check her. He said there was a lot of fluid in her lungs and her heart rate was extremely fast. He said he was treating her for upper respiratory but wasn't ruling out heart issue, possible patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). He gave her Draxxin, Dexamethasone, and Banamine. The calf was fine the next day until February 21st. At 6am the calf was full of fluid again, this time much worse. When suckling on mom fluid would pour out her nostrils. It was almost as if she had a cleft palate, it was so bad. Called the vet, same clinic, different doc. He gave 2cc of Zuprevo SQ, mentioned the heart rate was extremely fast but could not hear a heart murmur. We were then told to repeat that antibiotic in 7 days and again in 7 days if she's still alive by then. Sunday the 22nd, calf is much worse!!!! Knocking on deaths door, open mouth breathing, very pale, not drinking, and when she tries fluid or milk pours out her nostrils. We again check for cleft palate, nothing!!! Called the vet, he said not much more to do, now we may want to consider ending her suffering the next day, but did say to give dexamethasone 2cc IM. I decided then I would give her and her mother the night together at least and maybe the next day, and then said a prayer to God that night to help us out. Calf got a little better in an hour. Monday the 23rd calf depressed, harsh fluid sounds, not wanting to drink. Administered 2cc banamine IM and 5cc of penicillin IM. Tuesday the 24th calf seems better so gave another 5cc of penicillin. Continued daily giving 5cc penicillin IM. Today is the 27th calf has been bright, alert, responsive, normal heart rate, eating hay, nursing from heifer, knock on wood no mucus, lungs seem clear. She's been like this from the start of the 24th. So...... Any ideas, any similar experiences. We're stumped here. We've been told PDA or even a Heart shunt symptom. We are constantly monitoring her hoping and praying that she shows no more symptoms these next few days.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Glad that she is doing a bit better.
My thoughts would be that if the fluid and mucus in the lungs is heart related, (congestive heart failure) a diuretic like Lasix may have helped. Dex could potentially increase fluid retention. Is she peeing well? How are her kidneys working?
The disadvantage if trying a diuretic is the risk of dehydration and electrolyte imbalances. You would need to be able to get fluid back into her.
If in fact she has true PDA it does not sound like Lasix would help.
I am just throwing ideas out there. I am not a vet. Only a nurse.

 

[dun]

Years back we had a Hereford calf that would get real lungy sounding and droopy. Gave it Nuflor anfd the next day it would be up and around. The next day back down. Finally put it down, turned out to have a bad heart valve.

 

[ThumbHereford]

The Lasix did cross our mind, but it never got administered because they weren't sure if it was a PDA. The vet just really made mention of it as a possibility. We were and still are hoping that to not be the case. Her urination is fine and her stool is fine now. Last week she had bloody stool but vet said the Dex and banamine combo probably caused that. I haven't weighed her again yet, but she seems to be healthy right now. We stopped with the Dex this past Sunday the 22nd, and that should have worn off a couple days ago. We're really praying it to be a bad case of aspiration pneumonia. It's been warmer in Siberia than it has in Michigan the past couple weeks.

 

[Putangitangi]

Sometimes they're just not made right! My own approach to really young calves with "issues" is generally to assume something isn't quite right with the calf. You do what you can, but if it doesn't come completely right quite soon, there's probably something going on you won't be able to fix. Cattle are pretty easy-care animals. When they're not and we start trying to keep them going for as long as people do with faulty human babies, we buy a whole lot more trouble for longer.

If you really like the heifer, put it down to bad luck and try her again next year. And by the way, you say the birth was unassisted, but did you actually see it happen? Trouble can be caused by delay you didn't see.

 

[milkmaid]

How far back did you look for a cleft palate? they can be soft palate or hard palate, run your fingers back as far as you can.

PDA is still normal first week or two of life, not always present but not an abnormal finding. A VSD would be an abnormal finding. Did the vet check her for a cleft palate?

 

[ThumbHereford]

Thanks for the replies. Her birth was watched, we have remote camera system to barn to help with having to go out to the barn all the time. We're definitely keeping the heifer mother around, I won't breed her back to the bull she was bred to when we bought her in the fall. But she is definitely worth keeping around. We gave the calf the last 2cc of Zuprevo this afternoon, this will be the last medication she receives. The vet did check for cleft palate when he was here along with us checking and double checking. We weren't aware that PDA was somewhat of a normal thing with calves. At this point she's out bouncing around and just being a normal calf so we'll continue to monitor her and hopefully nothing changes.

 

[milkmaid]

I'd also quit the banamine - repeated use can lead to abomasal ulcers, and statistically there's no difference in the outcome of calves with scours or pneumonia when given banamine or not. So I don't see anything to be gained by giving it to this calf.

Sounds like you're sitting at day 4 of the calf being bright and alert? and she's currently acting like a normal calf? I'd probably monitor temp and respiratory rate every 12-24 hours for a few days but otherwise she may be over this problem.