Calf with hurt Leg

hoovershounds · #1 01/23/09, 08:30 PM

The neighbor called the other day (tuesday) and asked if we wanted a bottle calf with a gimpy leg. He had got it cheap at the sale barn & then decided he did not want to mess with it. I said yes and went & picked it up and thats when a gimpy leg turned out to be an injured leg. He is a little angus bull calf about a month old & he weighs around 125-150 pounds. His one back leg is badly swollen in the hip area, he will put weight on it & is moving it as he walks but it is an akward and slow movement. He was able to chase my 9 year old across the yard

when we got him home so yeah he still got some spunk in him.He is taking the bottle well (dairyway milk replacer 2qts times per day) & gets up and down with out assistance but with all the swelling I know there has to be something wrong. He had some dried poo on his tail and down his legs so I went ahead and gave him two sustain lll calf bolus on wendnesday but his yellow green poo still seems runny. Thought it might be from all the stress of the auction and new home and food but with the leg I dont know. I know i need to get him to the vet for shots and such but I dont know if I will be able to afford it this week and it bothers me thinking that there might be something I could be doing. So do you think I should leave him alone and see if the swelling goes down on its own or should I be giving him some antibiotics and anti inflamatorys?

lasergrl · #2 01/23/09, 08:33 PM

makesure it isnt joint ill. I had one with that and its next to impossible to get rid of.

hoovershounds · #3 01/23/09, 08:53 PM

sorry I am not real up on cow stuff. Is joint ill the same as navel ill?

hoovershounds · #4 01/23/09, 09:02 PM

okay looked it up and yes they sound like they are one and the same. No I am pretty sure its not joint ill. He has no navel cord and his belly has no swollen lumps or protusions

Ronney · #5 01/24/09, 04:38 AM

Without seeing the calf I wouldn't like to offer an opinion. However, the fact that he is up and about and drinking idicates that there isn't a lot of pain associated with it and that would seem to me to be a good thing. I can understand the money thing when it comes to taking him to the vet - you still unfortunately have to see your way clear to being able to pay the bill - but if you have good communication with your vet, a phone call would be in order.

As for his poohs, he's been a fairly stressed out little chap in recent days and it's showing. He's had a lot of travel and probably several changes of milk as well as several changes of environment so give it a few days and you should see an improvement. Is it possible for the vet to come to you rather than taking the calf to them. Travel is highly stressful for young animals and should be kept to a minimum.

Cheers,
Ronnie

randiliana · #6 01/24/09, 03:03 PM

As long as he keeps eating well, sounds like you are doing about all you can. You've treated him for the scours, and if the injury is up in his hip, there isn't much that can be done about it. After all it cannot be casted. Keep him in a small area so he doesn't move around too much and re-injure it and just keep an eye on him. He may never be completely sound on it, but from what you say about him, that is all you can do.

hoovershounds · #7 02/09/09, 08:21 PM

Well we have had babe almost a month now. He still eats and gets around. I took him to the vets friday because the swelling on the hip had not gone down much. The vet drew a syringe off the hip. It was mostly blood but their was some chunks in it that the vet said was infection. The vet said he does not think it is broke or dislocated because the leg is weight bearing and has a good range of movement to it. We also noticed while he was there that there was some infection in the front knee also. The vet lanced this area and a bunch of puss came out. He gave us some quartermast stuff to inject into the front knee and an oral antibiotic for 10 days. He did not want to lance the hip because he thought it would bleed alot. He seems to think that maybe the hip abcess was caused by a vaccination but I just dont know. I have never seen a whole hip swell as bad as this calfs has and it dose not explain his knee.

lasergrl · #8 02/09/09, 08:31 PM

sure it isnt joint ill? It really sounds like it, the umbilicus doesnt always seem infected. I dont know, just curious because I dealt with this also and could never get rid of it.

hoovershounds · #9 02/09/09, 09:12 PM

you know the more i read the more you sound right. What did you try with your calf? It has been a long standing joke around here that if this vet tells you your animal will be alright then you can plan on it being dead in the morning. The pills he gave us are sultrier 960. I have been trying to figure out what they are but I am not having much luck. I gusse i will have to call him in the morning.

lasergrl · #10 02/09/09, 09:23 PM

I had limited accsess to meds when I had my joint ill calf but I tryed baytril, penn, and la-200. They ALWAYS worked, for about a week, then he would get swollen again. He would get feverish and sometimes scours when it came back. Sometimes he had to be tube fed. He always did fine after a shot of meds. I eventually gave him away. I am not sure if he lived. When he was feeling well you'd never know anything was wrong, but it always came back.
Not sure what the preffered meds are for this honestly. Cant imagine anything oral being good enough?

travlnusa · #11 02/09/09, 10:08 PM

I went though Joint Ill once, and I will never again try to spend my way out of it again.

I kept that calf for 10 months. When the ones that were born 5 months after him started to outgrow him, I ended that experiment.

It is my opinion only that is what your calf has.

Madsaw · #12 02/09/09, 10:46 PM

This may sound stupid. But, try a high dose of pennicillin for atleast 4 days. Then back down to a lower dose for a week. You would not be out nothing other then the meds. Sometimes the drug just gets a hold of whats going on then the treatment is stopped and the infection comes back. I would do this in conjunction with the sulfa drug. Also a dose of banamine for teh inflamantion and pain.
Yes it could be from a messed up shot that caused this with the calf. The knee could been a injure from the hip joint being messed up and the calf trying to get around like that. I have a 7 yr old cow with a injection site lump from when she went to pasture as a yearling.
Bob