swollen calf tongue

[angus kid]

I have a calf, 3-4 days old. His tongue is severely swollen. His Mother died after birthing. The vet came and tubed him. He won't suck the bottle or your fingers. The vet said to keep tubing him but doesn't know why his tongue is still swollen. Has anyone seen this before? And what do you do? I am not comfortable with the tubing( me doing the tubing)

 

[Wewild]

I have a calf, 3-4 days old. His tongue is severely swollen. His Mother died after birthing. The vet came and tubed him. He won't suck the bottle or your fingers. The vet said to keep tubing him but doesn't know why his tongue is still swollen. Has anyone seen this before? And what do you do? I am not comfortable with the tubing( me doing the tubing)

I am really really sorry for your sorrow. He should probably go on to a better place.

 

[cherokeeruby]

I have a calf, 3-4 days old. His tongue is severely swollen. His Mother died after birthing. The vet came and tubed him. He won't suck the bottle or your fingers. The vet said to keep tubing him but doesn't know why his tongue is still swollen. Has anyone seen this before? And what do you do? I am not comfortable with the tubing( me doing the tubing)

I vaguely recall having one with a swollen tongue, head was swollen too from a difficult birth, was not a Brahman cow for clarification. He got better after a while. Tubing is not hard you can do it. Did the vet give you instructions. Do you want detailed instructions. Everyone here will be happy to tell you their method.

 

[Beefy]

yeah like cherokeeruby said the only time ive seen it is after a difficult birth and the whole head is normally swollen. let us know whatever happens. good luck.

 

[Farmer Kevin]

When feeding the calf a bottle try only putting it halfway into it mouth. Sometimes when we have the same problem this helps....

 

[Farmhand]

Had a difficult birth that the swelling in the head went down about day 3-4 but the tongue itself took a little over a week to go down. We don't tube anything here. We made sure the nipple had a big enough hole so the milk would come out on its own. Then we let the tongue hang out one side and inserted nipple on other side. Just put it in far enough to get the milk to go in the mouth - pretty much not more than half the nipple. Go slow with releasing the milk. He's going to have trouble swallowing with a really swollen tongue and you don't want to choke him. It was a lot of work but we pulled ours through this way. Let us know how you come out.

 

[angus kid]

Thanks for responding. The calf is surviving. The vet did give me instructions. Thanks. I'm hopful that the tongue will also go down. I've had tongues swell before but usually only for a day and not this much. He is a big calf so maybe that is part of the cause. Thanks again for ya'll's advise and help. I'm happy to have found this web sight where I can come to and ask questions or just talk cows. I'll keep you posted. Take care.

 

[Wewild]

Thanks for responding. The calf is surviving. The vet did give me instructions. Thanks. I'm hopful that the tongue will also go down. I've had tongues swell before but usually only for a day and not this much. He is a big calf so maybe that is part of the cause. Thanks again for ya'll's advise and help. I'm happy to have found this web sight where I can come to and ask questions or just talk cows. I'll keep you posted. Take care.

I wish you the best of luck.