sick calf

[dzurovec]

How does a calf act if he has eaten something foreign? I have a sick calf and think that he might have eaten something bad. I found him with hay hanging out of his mouth. I cleaned this out and thought he was fine. About a week later, he was unable to get up. He had a good appetite, but wasn't able to stand without assistance. After a day of helping him up, he finally started walking around. He seems very weak, but his eyes and nose look good. Any ideas what he might have or if this is how he would act if he act something foreign?

 

[Medic24]

Gees, hard to do a diagnosis with out seeing the calf, but it may well be an illness just as sure as it could be a digested problem... I would not think if he ate something foreign it would make him weak so many days later,,, if it was poison it should have been sooner, but it sounds like a progression of illness.......But I am NOT a vet......maybe you should call one to see, as there are so many things causing this.....

I do sometimes have calves or cattle suffer from what our vet calls a silent pnuemonia, there is no outward or apparent illness, no coughing or heavy breathing, just weakness that gets worse in time. All the time the lungs are filling with fluids and lesions.......my vote is call a vet.


When something bad is eaten, usually , but not always, obvious signs would be heavy salivation,clumsyness, bloating, manure changes, excessive belching, or the animal stands in a position to get relief in the digestive tract.

 

[Victoria]

How are his bowel movements?
How old is the calf?
Why do you think he ate something bad? Is there something that you know of that he has access to that makes you think this?
Has he ever had any vitamin/mineral shots?

 

[jerry27150]

is he eating anything? had a first calf heifer with hay hanging out of her mouth a couple years ago. vet said she had lost some teeth & to give her mostly grain for a week or so. she strightened out fine after that. don't know why a calf would act that way unless he had a sore tooth or something stuck back there. can't think of anything else to cause the hay hanging out

 

[dzurovec]

How are his bowel movements?
How old is the calf?
Why do you think he ate something bad? Is there something that you know of that he has access to that makes you think this?
Has he ever had any vitamin/mineral shots?

Her bowels are fine. The only reason I thought that the (6 month)calf ate something bad is because she was fine until we found her with the hay. Then he was slow, until one day he didn't get up. His appetiate has always been good. We feed him twice a day, sweet feed and water. His eye and nose looked fine, so I just thought maybe she ate something bad. Our pasture is very clean, but every now and then we find Walmart bags in it. Didn't know what was wrong. We have never given our calfs vitamin/mineral shots, but we do put out mineral blocks.

 

[haybalin fool]

One thing to try would be to administer some B complex Vitamins. One diesease that affects cattle under heavy pressure, such as in a backgrounding situation, is polioencephalomalacia, or a thyamin defficiency. The classical first symptom of this is called star-gazing, where they will have their head up swaying it back and forth. I've had them walk right into me as well. Eventually they will get down, eyes/nose looks fine, but immobile. I think the bottle calls for 1ml/100 lbs, but vets have told me to give 2-3 times this amount. I would also give some Banamine, as well as some LA-200.