Calf with Joint infection

vquinn2 · #1 04/27/08, 09:20 PM

My daughter has a one month old calf that now has a navel infection (joint infection) we have treated her for about a week...she seems to be doing better. But still limps. My question is...will she always limp? and has anyone ever kept a calf that had the infection until she was a cow? She soo attached to the calf now...I'm trying to plan ahead for her. Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks
Valerie

jerzeygurl · #2 04/27/08, 09:33 PM

I had one with a BAD joint infection caused by injury, vet said she would always limp, she recovered completely, she is 15 months

it was more than a weeks worth of treatment though, and it was oral meds and injections i think for 2 weeks if not a month...she hated us for a long time.....

vquinn2 · #3 04/27/08, 10:00 PM

Thanks for the info. I will call the vet (again) tomorrow and see if there's additional medicine we can give her. She's a bottle calf...wish she would nibble on grain, but she's just not interested yet.
Thanks againie
Valer

jerzeygurl · #4 04/27/08, 10:06 PM

she limped for a while, but it is gone now, completely

vet said joint infections are HARD to get rid of and the intensive treatment was necessary, and at that he told me she would probably always limp....but he may have been saying that to make sure we went through the whole regimine as intense as it was?

vquinn2 · #5 04/27/08, 10:09 PM

Do you plan on keeping your heifer and breeding her someday?

Madsaw · #6 04/28/08, 06:15 AM

Yeap , its best to ask your vet about more meds. She should turn out fine in time. I commonly use just penicillin for this infection at a dose of 10cc per day. But, your vet may know of a better med that will attack the infection in the joints better. There have been many new drugs developed to target certain area of infection.
As to the feed. Get some sweet feed. Such as sweet 16 or any other complete feed thats coated with molasses. Provide a little pan of it in her pin. Start off by putting a bit in your hand and just give her a tatste. In a few days she will pick up on eating it.
Bob

jerzeygurl · #7 04/28/08, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vquinn2

Do you plan on keeping your heifer and breeding her someday?

yes, she is on the small size (genetics, not injury induced) so we are waiting for her to get a bit bigger, tho she is old enough.

jerzeygurl · #8 04/28/08, 11:54 AM

one of the meds was a grape flavored syrup( she didnt like it) plus the injectable

Cheribelle · #9 04/30/08, 01:48 PM

Oh this brings back memories....
A friend gave me a bottle calf once. It had a knee the size of a soccerball! He had tried antibiotics, several kinds, didn't have time to deal with it. I bought it home, drained the knee, (about a quart of pus) and slathered it in Watkins Salve, the vet-wrapped it. Next day, same thing, only less puss. Next day, same thing, less pus. I did take him to a vet, just to make sure there was nothing else I could do. He thought I should take it home and shoot it, but No way was I going to do that. He said, well, just be prepared for if it goes down, no matter how big it is, that's butchering day. Here it was by itself or with 1 other, so no major competitions for feed, no rough housing. I raised it 18 months, then I could tell the knee was getting weaker, and butchering time came.

Jennifer L. · #10 05/02/08, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vquinn2

My daughter has a one month old calf that now has a navel infection (joint infection) we have treated her for about a week...she seems to be doing better. But still limps. My question is...will she always limp? and has anyone ever kept a calf that had the infection until she was a cow? She soo attached to the calf now...I'm trying to plan ahead for her. Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks
Valerie

I had a cow named Wounded Knee for a long time. Even as an adult her knee would periodically break open and drain, but it didn't seem to bother her a whole lot. She was one of the boss cows and never trailed behind going to and from pasture.

Most important thing you can do for a calf like that is to make sure they continue to walk a lot. Absolutely DO NOT put these calves in a small pen or keep them tied up. They must be able to exercise the joint and keep it freed up. If you don't allow them exercise, the joint will freeze into position and then it's not very likely it will ever be a workable joint again. And quite frankly, they are more likely to die as the infection seems to overtake them if the knee isn't kept working. Not sure why that is, maybe it's just that the exercise keeps the infection from building up.

Anyway, good luck. They won't be perfect adults, but they can do ok.

Jennifer