swollen knees

[Anonymous]

The folks have a calf (two weeks old) that they finally took away from the mother cuz she was being a real nut. The calf's knees and hocks were extremely swollen. Called the vet out and he told them: "Don't make her stand up, let her lay wherever she wants to and whenever she wants. Here is some antibiotic that I want you to give her twice a day." Of course, he didn't have time to tell the folks what is wrong with the calf... but he sure seemed to know what to do. Does anyone know what is going on with this calf? oh yeah... he drew some fluid out of one of the knees, and it was just blood which he said was a GOOD thing. I was told that whenever the calf would get up, you could hear the joints crackling and popping. Is this calf worth messing with, or are the folks just prolonging the agony and inevitable?

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[Anonymous]

The vet finally checked back with mom and the calf has naval ill. Turns out that the area the cow chose to calve was a mud pit. The calf is doing well on the bottle... getting antibiotics twice a day... vet is going to drain the two joints that are still swollen. A blood test will be done to find if kidneys have been damaged. The calf may be lost yet.... the tests will let us know better, later...

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