Hello All….
We had a calf, "Moose", that was born June 25th, with help from the vet. The vet estimated that he weighed about 120lbs. The vet gave him a couple of shots at birth since he had fluid in his lungs from being in the birth canal for so long. It was 50/50 chance on whether not he would make it. He seemed to be doing great until about a week later. We noticed that he was walking funny, favoring his front left leg and his front right knee was a little swollen as well. We also noticed that his naval was hard. Believing that it was joint ill that we were dealing with, we gave him a shot of Tylan, Banamine, Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin A & D, and some Dex. The next morning he seemed to be doing better. He was eating grass and drinking some water and almost running in the pasture. So we called the vet to see what antibiotics we needed to continue to give him and he gave us Nuflor and some more Banamine.
We gave Moose the shots over the next week, the last one ending on a Friday. By the time Monday evening came Moose was walking funny again and had big knots/abscesses on his hip, the front right knee was swollen even more, and he wasn't using his front left leg at all. We called the vet and he gave us some Nuflor Gold(administered every other day for a week) and some Dex. We would give Moose the shots in the evening and by the next morning he would be eating well, but the second day he wouldn't eat much and really wouldn't even get up. He is sucking from his mom(she only has 3 good teats) and we are supplementing with a bottle, so not quite sure if he was getting enough milk from her or not.
Well he wasn't getting better, so the vet gave us a different antibiotic called Adovcine(I believe). We were originally giving it to him every 3 days for a week and it seems like the knots/abscesses seem to be going away and now we are giving the Adovcine every 5 days(have shots for 7/29 and 8/3). He is getting up more frequently, but we've notice some other things and we are not sure if they are side effects from the joint ill or something else. We feel like we have seen improvement in him and he is still eating and getting up so we want to do what we can and see if he comes out of this.
The most concerning things are:
1. The non use of his front left leg. It almost seems shorter than his front right. Can joint ill stop his leg from growing or could his leg be dislocated?
2. The under part of his hoofs seemed to have peeled off. We are putting some stuff on it that the vet recommended, but they don't seem to be getting better.
3. Today we noticed that his back left leg at the ankle area is now bending forward, is this progression of the joint ill?
4. We believe that his mouth may be bleeding. The last couple of days we have seen some bloody saliva after bottle feeding him. We are not sure if he hit his mouth on something or if it is something else. We have looked at his mouth and can't see where there are any signs of injury.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be going on here or the best course of action? Any help would be appreciated. Not sure how to add pictures/video to the post, but I do have some so you can see what I'm talking about with his legs.
We had a calf, "Moose", that was born June 25th, with help from the vet. The vet estimated that he weighed about 120lbs. The vet gave him a couple of shots at birth since he had fluid in his lungs from being in the birth canal for so long. It was 50/50 chance on whether not he would make it. He seemed to be doing great until about a week later. We noticed that he was walking funny, favoring his front left leg and his front right knee was a little swollen as well. We also noticed that his naval was hard. Believing that it was joint ill that we were dealing with, we gave him a shot of Tylan, Banamine, Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin A & D, and some Dex. The next morning he seemed to be doing better. He was eating grass and drinking some water and almost running in the pasture. So we called the vet to see what antibiotics we needed to continue to give him and he gave us Nuflor and some more Banamine.
We gave Moose the shots over the next week, the last one ending on a Friday. By the time Monday evening came Moose was walking funny again and had big knots/abscesses on his hip, the front right knee was swollen even more, and he wasn't using his front left leg at all. We called the vet and he gave us some Nuflor Gold(administered every other day for a week) and some Dex. We would give Moose the shots in the evening and by the next morning he would be eating well, but the second day he wouldn't eat much and really wouldn't even get up. He is sucking from his mom(she only has 3 good teats) and we are supplementing with a bottle, so not quite sure if he was getting enough milk from her or not.
Well he wasn't getting better, so the vet gave us a different antibiotic called Adovcine(I believe). We were originally giving it to him every 3 days for a week and it seems like the knots/abscesses seem to be going away and now we are giving the Adovcine every 5 days(have shots for 7/29 and 8/3). He is getting up more frequently, but we've notice some other things and we are not sure if they are side effects from the joint ill or something else. We feel like we have seen improvement in him and he is still eating and getting up so we want to do what we can and see if he comes out of this.
The most concerning things are:
1. The non use of his front left leg. It almost seems shorter than his front right. Can joint ill stop his leg from growing or could his leg be dislocated?
2. The under part of his hoofs seemed to have peeled off. We are putting some stuff on it that the vet recommended, but they don't seem to be getting better.
3. Today we noticed that his back left leg at the ankle area is now bending forward, is this progression of the joint ill?
4. We believe that his mouth may be bleeding. The last couple of days we have seen some bloody saliva after bottle feeding him. We are not sure if he hit his mouth on something or if it is something else. We have looked at his mouth and can't see where there are any signs of injury.
Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be going on here or the best course of action? Any help would be appreciated. Not sure how to add pictures/video to the post, but I do have some so you can see what I'm talking about with his legs.
