Weak Back Legs?

[rosti]

My neighbor has some cows on my land and today there is one with weak back legs. Here are a couple videos showing what is going on. Terrible videos but I think they are enough to give you the general idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgfeQa1h ... e=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G8KB37t ... e=youtu.be


Any idea what is going on?

 

[rosti]

Well I just talked to the owner who had just talked to the vet, and the vet said he just hurt his legs from horsing around. So no worried I guess.

 

[Fire Sweep Ranch]

Gee, if that was my calf I would be real worried!!! Calf needs to be penned up in my opinion, looks painful.

 

[Alan]

I agree at the very least he needs to have his activity restricted in a pen and see if time will help him. Or eat him.

 

[jerry27150]

best thing for him is to leave him out with ma

 

[milkmaid]

Has the vet seen the calf? That animal looks a little too out-of-touch with reality to be "just" injured. About ran over the character in the second video clip. Plant, mineral, etc toxins?

 

[rosti]

No the vet hasn't see the calf but the owner called the vet and described what was going on. I don't think it would be a plant or mineral because we are very careful about those things.

 

[Chris H]

I agree with Milkmaid, something is really off with that calf. Did dogs/coyotes/wolves chase & scare the heck out of him? That was odd how he would go down and come back up.

 

[milkmaid]

You might be surprised how many times plants or minerals or miscellaneous toxins can be implicated in diseases, even when you've never seen them before. Especially if you have a particularly wet or dry year, and plants are accumulating minerals at levels they might not normally, or animals are eating plants they wouldn't normally touch. Bracken fern, lupine, lead, selenium, etc, etc. The only difference between safe and toxic is... dose.

Surely your vet has a website/email address? send him the video and I'd bet he's going to come up with a different diagnosis when he watches it.

 

[rosti]

Sorry about not answering sooner. I went out to check on him Monday, and he was in terrible shape. I was gonna call the owner when he pulled up with a stock trailer. He told me he had been coming every day to check on him and yes he did bring the vet one time. His buddy unloaded a horse and they went out and gave him a few shots. The vet said it looks like something jumped on his back and to give him shots for several days. He said it usually gets better on its own. I saw the calf walking yesterday, and he is doing a LOT better. Thank you for your advice anyhow.

 

[milkmaid]

Glad to hear, thanks for the update. I was talking with a veterinarian the other day and they suggested grubs, growth of a mass, trauma, vertebral malformations, etc, etc as well. Lots of differentials but glad it seems more likely to be trauma and the calf is responding to treatment.