Two sick calves: 1 mo & 2 mo

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Irene

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Oct 19, 2008
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Strathmore, Alberta, Canada
We have two small calves, one orphaned at birth (the 1 month old) and one taken from its mother in a feedlot (the 2 month old). We have a worsening problem with the 2 month old in that she's coughing quite a bit, has mucusy runny eyes and mucus coming from her nose. She is eating her starter grain and drinking water. She always refused to drink milk replacement. My other calf has now got one runny eye and a slight cough after she drinks her milk, which we're feeding her 3 times daily, and is into the starter and water as well. They have both been given penicillin shots, and NuFlor (sp?) and the older calf was force-fed electrolytes. However, as you can see, it's not cleared up. We are at a loss as to what we can do further. Anybody?????
 
Irene

There are a ton of good veterinarians in your area.

Give one a call. Load up the calves and go to him / her - or have him / her come out.

Sounds like you are doing what you can - lots of home grown veterinarians here - but in the end the best diagnosis is on scene.

Good luck

Bez+
 
Sounds like pneumonia hanging on longer than usual. It happens and you just have to continue the treatments for as long as it takes. I had two this year like that and it took both of them over two weeks of a lot of TLC to get them better.

Call your vet and find a protocol for treatment. I used nuflor and predef..Nuflor every second day and predef every 4th day as well as electrolytes when needed ,this was prescribed by my vet.

When we did herd heath and vaccinated last week he couldn't believe that she was the same little calf that was so very ill last winter, she did not miss a beat and is in perfect health as well as the same size if not a little bigger as all the heifer calves in her age group.

Good luck, and like I said some just take longer to get well.
 
Call the vet!
Second, treatments should be continued for about 10days. If there is no improvement after 2-4 days then switch on the advice of a vet. Once you think it is gone, give it another shot so as to not have it reoccuring. It is a good possibility that it could reoccur. Think of it like treating a human. the docs give antibiotics for 10-14 days and sometimes longer. they say to finish all meds so as to not have a relapse, and create a stronger bug.
However, if it is a viral pnemonia, the antibiotics will only prevent a secondary infection from setting in...this is a good thing especially if BVD or BRD or IBR is involved.
I agree with HD on adding in an anti inflam, but we differ in choices. I would go for the non steriodal like anafin.

Lastly are you on a herd health program?
Do you vaccinate your cows prebreeding with a ML FP vaccine?
 
It seems to me, in that age calf, that Draxxin is a good choice . If you don't get a good response from the antibiotic you use, be prepared to switch to another . A thermometer is useful in evaluating the initial response to treatment .As far as the debate over Banamine verses Dexamethasone, if a calf is in serious condition I will use Dex, if I feel like the situation is less threatening I will go with Banamine .

Larry
 

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