partially paralyzed calf? need opinions

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milkmaid

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Got a calf here that seems to have been paralyzed in the hind end - was told she was stuck half-in/half-out during birth for an extended period of time (hiplock?) - she's only about 48 hours old right now. Any of y'all seen anything like that before and did they recover? When I help her stand, she can use her front end but the back end doesn't want to work. However, when she gets frustrated she can put weight on the left hind and stand with it for a brief second, so I think it's not complete paralysis.

She also has extended swelling from right hip to right hock, not sure if it's related. My vet felt it was too early for a joint infection to show up, and it doesn't seem abnormally hot, so it seems more likely connected to the traumatic birth. But it does bother me that it's only on one leg.

I IV'd her with dexamethasone, vitamin B complex, gave her banamine, aspirin, antibiotic, and multimin. Think I covered all my bases. :p Any other suggestions?

Pics:
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Yeah, I don't have a lot of self control when it comes to turning down free calves. :lol2:
 
We've had three or four like that over the years. All were pulled calves. Only one didn't come good after a few days.
"Stretched nerves" was a possible cause put forward. The one who didn't make it was stuck for several hours and had no feeling in his backlegs at all but maybe we should have given him more time - we might have despatched him too quickly. A beautiful calf, you've given her all the right things, Milkmaid. The best of luck!
 
I just had another thought - I hope her hip on the one side is not "knocked down" from being dragged through the pelvis. :(
 
I've seen a few cases in holstein calves over the years, usually associated with a hiplock and pulled at birth, have seen a few minor cases heal completely, have seen more never really get much better and have seen a few get worse with age and more weight.

What bothers me is the swelling, have you had a good feel around the hip joint? It sounds alot like a dislocated hip or a serious hip injury like torn or severely stretched tendons. The only treatment I think that might do some good is an anti-inflamatory.

I have only had one very mild case in my herd after I had to pull a calf from a very young heifer back in 2005. That same bullcalf was shown succesfully as a yearling and is still one of the top bulls I've ever bred. This calf was just reluctant to use his rear left leg and it had a funny swinging action when he walk for the first 6 weeks or so. At weaning you never would have guessed that there was problem when he was younger at all.
 
Pretty calf MM, I think your only shot is to keep trying to get her up and walking, I would continue with the dex for a few days. I don't blame you on the free calf, I would probaly mess with her for a week or two, she may come around.

Larry
 
My second twin heifer born was locked on moms hip because her little back legs were crossed..She had extensive swelling almost the same as yours and she could only stand to nurse if she rested against mom or I held her..(in one leg only as well)...
I had her x rayed and everything nothing showed up and like your definitely not joint ill.
I did a regimen of an anti inflammatory and antibiotic. She was able to walk around with a limp after a few days and now at 8 weeks old you wouldn't even know that she had a problem.
BTW I did the anti inflammatory for 3 days straight and then every second day for 2 weeks and I used a steroidal AI. I would also get her to use the leg as much as you can without causing injury..

Nice looking calf MM and a heifer to boot, good luck with her, but she should pull through.

I also gave her electrolytes every 3rd day or so to help with her PH balance, like you I did all that I could think of.. ;-)

Here is a pic of Kayla and her twins. Kyla and Kylee (on the far left the one refered to in the post).

Apr28_0002.jpg
 
So the old post showed up again! okay. :p

To answer some of the questions here -- when I opened her up, I did check the hip and the hip joint was normal, not dislocated, and the rest of the bone was normal. Just soft tissue damage and a lot of it.

Those of you who have seen this sort of thing before and have treated it with anti-inflammatories.... how much did you use? I IV'd her with 7mLs of dexamethasone in the first 24 hours I had her, and it didn't seem to make a bit of difference to the swelling. I would have thought 7mLs was a lot, but maybe not?
 
milkmaid":1ewzyfpy said:
So the old post showed up again! okay. :p

To answer some of the questions here -- when I opened her up, I did check the hip and the hip joint was normal, not dislocated, and the rest of the bone was normal. Just soft tissue damage and a lot of it.

Those of you who have seen this sort of thing before and have treated it with anti-inflammatories.... how much did you use? I IV'd her with 7mLs of dexamethasone in the first 24 hours I had her, and it didn't seem to make a bit of difference to the swelling. I would have thought 7mLs was a lot, but maybe not?

Yeah 7ml is a lot, you would think if dex was going to help that much would have done it. Sounds like the injury was so massive she just couldn't recover.

Larry
 

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