Tetany ques.

[bird dog]

Yesterday I had a weaned heifer develop what I believe was grass tetany. She had all the common symptoms. She was sitting normal but off from the group and when I went to check on her she was slobbering some and skittish. I got her up and she trotted off about 10 yards and fell back down and into a awkward position.

I got her untwisted and back to a normal position. They have had free choice minerals and have been on a lot richer grass (Oats) than what they were on and had had some high mag mineral earlier in the year. I gave her a tube of CMPK and about an hour later when the other calves got close, she got up and joined them.
A couple hours later at dark she was down again so I gave her another tube.

This morning all seemed back to normal and she was walking and grazing with the group. This afternoon she was down but she got up quickly when I approached and climbed up the tank dam to join some others. No problems. I moved her and the others to a new pasture and they quickly started to roam. I went to the mineral feeder to add some and I heard something. When I looked back she was staggering around again and fell over with her head back.

So what is going on here? Is this behavior still from the tetany of have I misdiagnosed what is wrong. Will she slowly get back to normal? I put out a little grass hay for them to give them something else besides green grass but so far they have not touched it. Should I giver her something else? She is a brangus heifer about 9 months old.

 

[SBMF 2015]

Sounds like how I would have diagnosed her, but if their on high mag min that should have taken care of the problem.
One of the oddest things I've ever had was a cow that acted similar to what you describe. She also acted like she couldn't see. My vet diagnosed her with Listeria. I thought that was odd enough, but then she told me that penicillin is the best treatment. What?
If I hadn't seen it I doubt I would have believed it. We dosed her kind if heavy. 1200lb cow I think I gave her 100cc penicillin and last rights. The next day she was better and I gave her another 50cc. A week later you would have never known she was sick.
I think I kept that cow for 6 months before I was satisfied that the slaughter withdrawal was up before I culled her.

 

[kenny thomas]

Not saying it's not but I have never seen a calf get grass tetnus. Normally in a cow with a young calf.

 

[Lucky_P]

Never seen it personally, but it's well documented in stockers on cereal pastures...oats would certainly qualify.

'Nervous' coccidiosis also a consideration.

Any vetch in the mix? In some instances, it can precipitate seizures.

 

[bird dog]

No vetch, just oats and rye. Nervous' coccidiosis is a possibility.
I moved the group to anther pasture and off the oats. She had another episode the next day and I was going to treat her with some vitamins and multi-min but she was up and back to grazing when I got back to the pasture.

She seemed okay for 4 or 5 days and I moved them again Wednesday to a small pasture by the pens. I ran her through the chute on Thursday and gave her the MM, the vitamins and a shot of Penicillin. She didn't seem to be 100% well but was moving around good and steady on her feet.

But then when I went to check on her yesterday evening, she was down and not wanting to get up. Her eyes were sunk in like she was dehydrated. She acted like she didn't want to drink. I got a calf tubing bottle and forced a quart or so into her mouth. I gave her another shot of Pen, a shot of LA300 and another tube of CMPK. Kind of a last ditch effort as I didn't expect her to be alive this morning.

When I checked her this morning she stood briefly then went back down. Her eyes were back to normal but while I was there she went into a spasm where she was shaking, one ear was twitching and her mouth was doing a rapid chewing motion. A yellow thick liquid was in her mouth. This lasted for a few minutes then back to just sitting normally.

I read everything I could last night on neurological problems and there are a bunch, but none seemed to match up with her symptoms but many have similarities. As always I'm open for ideas. The vets ( if open) in my area are not very helpful and really don't even want to see you with this Covid problem. That is unless you have a dog, a thick wallet and are a regular customer.

 

[Lucky_P]

Just a thought... don't want to forget the possibility of rabies in an odd neurologic animal... especially if you've had your hands in her mouth. If she kicks off, you might want to consider submitting her head for rabies testing.

If coccidiosis is still in consideration, treatment with Corid or a couple of rounds of sustained-release sulfa boluses would be in order.

 

[bird dog]

Just a thought... don't want to forget the possibility of rabies in an odd neurologic animal... especially if you've had your hands in her mouth. If she kicks off, you might want to consider submitting her head for rabies testing.

If coccidiosis is still in consideration, treatment with Corid or a couple of rounds of sustained-release sulfa boluses would be in order.

Thanks Lucky. Rabies crossed my mine after reading up on the different neurological problems in cattle. She was worse off yesterday and had numerous seizures. They last a couple minutes where she just shakes and twitches, mostly her head and ears. I moved her to the barn with the loader and forced some more water down her with some corrid solution in it. I also gave her another shot of Pen. I was having trouble keeping her sitting upright so I put a table top behind her. She knocked that out of the way and was laying flat out when I checked her yesterday evening. She looked dead. I again forced water down her. I didn't expect her to live through the night and had plans to euthanize her today but she was standing when I went out this morning. She moved around a little bit but has now set back down but she is staying upright.

I'm not sure if anything I am doing is helping but if I was to guess it would be the keeping her from dehydrating with the bottle. Is there a proper way to get corid into a single animal? I'm sure I am overdosing her putting it into a tubing bottle. I don't really have the setup or knowledge to do a IV.

 

[bird dog]

First is a pic of the heifer when she was at her worst. The table behind her was to keep her upright. I wish I could get a video to load to show her twitching but this will have to do.




Next is a pic about 5 or 6 days later. I had to leave for a couple days so I left her in the barn with hay and water. I was not sure what I would have when I returned but was surprised to see her standing in the adjoining pasture munching on some grass.





After that I returned her to the pasture with the other calves. She was still weak and thin but seems to be getting better every day. I am not sure what caused the problem, what fixed the problem or how to prevent the problem from reoccurring but I have noticed that she spends more time at the mineral feeder than the others so maybe a mineral deficiency was the cause after all.

 

[TCRanch]

Huge difference - good save!