Polio Calf

[SBMF 2015]

It's been colder than normal this past week. I have been feeding my fall pairs extra to help them out. Roughly 25lbs of silage, 6lbs shell corn,and 1lb supplement per cow plus all the 2nd cutting hay they want. The calves are mostly Sept born,but this one was last October. 275lbs her calf two days ago couldn't stand on its own. Help her up and she walked post legged. I could barely flex her joints to get her to try and sit up. I consulted with my vet and we decided to treat her for polio. Gave her thiamin and Multi-min90. Repeated the thiamin yesterday. Calf had blood shot eyes that were rolled back in her head, and could not straighten her neck. She was dead this morning when I chored. Body completely relaxed.
They have had one round of vaccines including their Clostridials.
Any one think I missed something? Do the symptoms stand out as something else? She had no fever and clear lungs.
Thanks everyone!

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

It seems odd to me that one calf in a group would present with thiamine deficiency. Since its basically a dietary issue, if only one shows signs, it would usually be an underlying issue in the rest of the herd too... Any other time of the year and I would suspect Lymes as a possible cause... Too old for joint ill... I'm not much help I guess lol!

 

[Son of Butch]

we've had 2 cases of polio, both cases only 1 young animal and several years apart.
both responded to thiamine therapy - a couple times per day.
I know the earlier it's caught and treated, the higher the survival rate.

SBMF yours might have been some kind of poisoning and not polio.
I say that only because thiamine therapy wasn't successful and I can't offer
any other insightful cause.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Tetanus is a possibility, I would of have gave it a double dose of LA, with the thiamine. But that's hind sight.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Thanks everyone. I've seen polio in big cattle being fed hard with a lot of by-products in their ration. But only once or twice. Both responded to thiamine.

Hadn't thought about tetanus. That's as good a thought as polio.

Everyone else seems fine. The calves were even running and playing when I let them in for feed. The mercury is up to 7,and the sun is out.

 

[Lucky_P]

Had one just like you described, with tetanus, about 10 yrs ago. 4 month old heifer, with no injury or other exposure I could ascertain. Got knocked down in the lot and couldn't get up 9n her own. Fooled with her for a couple of days before the lightbulb switched on and I realized she had tetanus.
Started using a Clostridial with tetanus toxoid to vaccinate, after that deal. Prior to that, had been shot using just a 5-way Clostridial bacterin.

 

[wbvs58]

Your description rings bells with tetanus to me.

Ken

 

[kenny thomas]

Lucky_P or any others. I had a vet recommend tetanus antitoxiod for treatment of suspected tetnus. Seems like it was a dose every 12 hours but it could have been every 24.
What are your thoughts?

 

[Buck Randall]

Lucky_P or any others. I had a vet recommend tetanus antitoxiod for treatment of suspected tetnus. Seems like it was a dose every 12 hours but it could have been every 24.
What are your thoughts?

I've tried frequent doses of antitoxin along with antibiotics. I've never managed to save one. If anyone else has had better luck or knows the secret to success, I'd love to hear about it.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Okay so the million dollar question; how did she get it? I guess I have always associated Tetnus with an open wound or when banding. Is there any other way to contract Tetnus?

 

[Buck Randall]

Okay so the million dollar question; how did she get it? I guess I have always associated Tetnus with an open wound or when banding. Is there any other way to contract Tetnus?

It generally only occurs in wounds, but the wound would not have to be large enough to be noticeable. Small puncture wounds that appear healed over can still harbor the infection inside. There have been instances of tetanus in cows with bad uterine infections as well, though that wouldn't apply in this case.

Anecdotally, based on what I've seen myself and heard from other practitioners, it's been a bad year for tetanus in the upper Midwest. Not sure why.

 

[SBMF 2015]

It generally only occurs in wounds, but the wound would not have to be large enough to be noticeable. Small puncture wounds that appear healed over can still harbor the infection inside. There have been instances of tetanus in cows with bad uterine infections as well, though that wouldn't apply in this case.

Anecdotally, based on what I've seen myself and heard from other practitioners, it's been a bad year for tetanus in the upper Midwest. Not sure why.

Thank you.

 

[wbvs58]

I've tried frequent doses of antitoxin along with antibiotics. I've never managed to save one. If anyone else has had better luck or knows the secret to success, I'd love to hear about it.

Back in the late 70's early 80's from where I come from some colleges were claiming success with treating horses with tetanus by injecting the TAT into the CSF at the atlanto occipital joint. I didn't hear much about it in latter years though I did move away from large animal practice.

I saw a couple of cases of tetanus in horses that were transported together large distances in cattle trucks. No obvious wounds on them. Tetanus being anaerobic the spores don't like to germinate in open freely bleeding wounds but the spores can get in and lodge in the likes of muscle tissue for many months where the blood supply is good but then as in these cases some bruising in the muscle creates anaerobic conditions where the tetanus spores can get going producing their toxin. I did research this at the time for an explanation but don't ask me where. Most horses I have seen with tetanus did not have any obvious wound on them.

Ken