I don't know how else to put this, we have a heifer calf, lost her mama, so weaned her early, she is a little over 2 months old. She was on grain and eating a little grass, so is OK there. We went ahead and put her in with the rest of the weaning calves, they are several months older than her, but she eats great, both hay and creep feed, drinks water, poops good, good firm poops, but she carries her tail out and stands hunkered over like she is trying to pee. We watched her tonight and she did pee, but not sure if maybe she has some kind of infection or trouble back there. She got a shot of nuflor just for good measure. Any advice?
Weaning Calf-hunkering over
- Thread starter garnetann
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
A
Anonymous
Most do that. Probably nothing to worry about
Not hard, just normal cow poop, not like scowers, or when cows get nervous and they have loose stools. It was just normal. She was a little better this morning, got right up and ate breakfast. We are so terribly dry here that I have been keeping a close eye on all of them because of the dust. But everyone is over the bawling, and all are eating well. A couple had snotty noses yesterday and one had a little cough, but we nuflored all of them too. The little hunkering one is just as bright eyed as she can be. And gets right up to the feed bunk for grain and hay. When she peed yesterday, it was not cloudy or bloody, but not a good hard stream like some calves do. I am wondering if since she was hard weaned, if she just needs to get adjusted to being off milk and on to regular food and getting in the habit of drinking more water. I will talk to the vet today and see what they say.
garnetann
Sounds like you have a definite digestion problem.
I would slip her a qt or two of sugar water ( 2 teaspoons per qt ) in a bottle a day and see if it clears up.
The sucking will stimulate digestion and the sugar and water will help with energy and digestion.
SL
Sounds like you have a definite digestion problem.
I would slip her a qt or two of sugar water ( 2 teaspoons per qt ) in a bottle a day and see if it clears up.
The sucking will stimulate digestion and the sugar and water will help with energy and digestion.
SL
How much older are the calves you put her in with?
alisonb
Well-known member
It sounds more like a bladder problem to me? But I have only seen it in older animals, sort of 6 months +.
Could a calf, especially a heifer calf , develop bladder stones or a bladder infection at such a young age? Anybody know?
Could a calf, especially a heifer calf , develop bladder stones or a bladder infection at such a young age? Anybody know?
Kathie in Thorp
Well-known member
We acquired a March 2011 calf recently, that had just been treated for a bladder infection before we got her (and she was a bottle calf). She's fine now, but yes, the little ones can get an infection.alisonb":3e55wbo7 said:
Gale Seddon
Well-known member
That's what it was with one of our older weanlings that hunched over like that. Vet prescribed 7-10 days of penicillin and she was fine. (I was very worried that a larger cow had jumped her and injured her.)
Kathie in Thorp
Well-known member
Gale Seddon":3w4i57wv said:
Yup.
She seems much better now, the vet said to watch her, they said it was possible one of the other calves were getting rough with her. The vet did say that with her basically being pulled off the cow at 2 months, her rumen was not fully developed and that could give her a problem. And being young, had to learn quickly to drink plenty of water because before she was getting all her liquids from her mamas milk. So she needs to drink plenty of water to keep her bladder healthy. They said as long as she was eating well and drinking water, she should come through it OK. She is not carrying her tail anymore and peeing more normal. We vaccinated everyone yesterday, and spent the better part of the day building fence to get them out of the dusty pen and onto the grass. Will take another good day for that. Have been putting in as700 2g crums in their feed, and they are on a good ration along with plenty of hay. There are 7 in the pen, she is not a lot smaller then the other weanlings, except for 2 heifers that are bigger. She and one other were late calves out of some bred cows my son bought. I told him I don't like buying bred cows, I like to have more definate start and end dates for calving for this reason exactly. It was either sell the 2 little ones or just do my best, I tend to be kind of a push over with the little ones and figured this way maybe I could keep a closer eye on them. It is a learning experience...
She is still having issues. We did 7 days of pennicillin, still was running a fever so the vet gave her a good shot of baytril. She eats good, is on a good grain mix and clover hay. We have not taken her temp since tuesday night. She does not pee a good stream, more like she is having a hard time peeing. I am going to talk to another large animal vet tomorrow. suggestions?
Re:
"I would slip her a qt or two, or more of sugar water ( 2 teaspoons per qt ) in a bottle a day."
Now I would add: Separate her and take her off everything except water, hay and/or grass.
If she has a fever, give her 2 Bayer aspirins every 12 hrs.
SL
Yes, as I said:
"I would slip her a qt or two, or more of sugar water ( 2 teaspoons per qt ) in a bottle a day."
Now I would add: Separate her and take her off everything except water, hay and/or grass.
If she has a fever, give her 2 Bayer aspirins every 12 hrs.
SL
rockridgecattle
Well-known member
Tell me about the poop.
If you had to pick it up with a fork without some straw or hay in it could you?
How does she walk? Does she staggar abit?...Just curious
The calf might need to be tubed with electrolytes. If she is not drinking enough the calf will not hydrate on water alone until the balance of electrolytes is restored.
an anti inflam would be useful to bring down the fever and if the calf is in some pain...bladder infections can be painful. A good one is flunazine
Asprin unless coated is hard on animals stomached if give several times...Once ok, more than that and it can be hard on their gut
If you had to pick it up with a fork without some straw or hay in it could you?
How does she walk? Does she staggar abit?...Just curious
The calf might need to be tubed with electrolytes. If she is not drinking enough the calf will not hydrate on water alone until the balance of electrolytes is restored.
an anti inflam would be useful to bring down the fever and if the calf is in some pain...bladder infections can be painful. A good one is flunazine
Asprin unless coated is hard on animals stomached if give several times...Once ok, more than that and it can be hard on their gut
faster horses
Well-known member
This won't help with her peeing problem, but after all those antibiotics, I would for
sure give her some probiotic to get her rumen going again. Remember, we don't feed
cattle, we feed the rumen and they need rumen microbes to have a healthy rumen...
and antibiotics kill the good microbes as well as the bad. I've learned over the years,
you can't give too much probiotics. Often they can mean the difference between
life and death and certainly the difference between being thrifty do-ers and unthrifty.
Good luck and keep us posted!
sure give her some probiotic to get her rumen going again. Remember, we don't feed
cattle, we feed the rumen and they need rumen microbes to have a healthy rumen...
and antibiotics kill the good microbes as well as the bad. I've learned over the years,
you can't give too much probiotics. Often they can mean the difference between
life and death and certainly the difference between being thrifty do-ers and unthrifty.
Good luck and keep us posted!
We did end up selling her. I was spending a lot of money on vet stuff for. Tried sugar water probiotics and different antibiotics. Vet said since nothing was working was possible her urethra was damaged and surgery was next option. And also was likely she would not successfully be bred.
regolith
Well-known member
Possibly the best result. I missed this post first time - did have a calf in 2004 with cystitis and navel ill that was on antibiotics for about a month and ended up with kidney damage. Had bouts of 'staggering' with her tail up, bred early, coat lovely and shiny like she was the healthiest of the bunch but she got sick and died at about 22 months old. Complications from the navel ill according to the vet who saw her shortly before she died.
I'm thinking maybe the navel ill lowered her immunity allowing the cystitis to take hold; she's the only bovine I've ever seen affected that way.
I'm thinking maybe the navel ill lowered her immunity allowing the cystitis to take hold; she's the only bovine I've ever seen affected that way.
