Calf fainted......I think

[Cheryl aka JM]

Lets start with the calf seems fine NOW. I've been so busy the last week I forgot to ask about this~ but I just remembered and thought y'all might have a clue what really happened.

So I've got this steer calf~ he is approx 3 months old. Was on his Momma for a couple weeks and then came to me because the owner felt his momma was not giving enough milk for him (Y'all may recall me posting about getting him around the first of Oct). He never bottle fed for me~ but drank MR from a bucket until we weaned him a couple weeks ago. Has been getting grain morning and evening. Calf has always moved stiffly~ a little slowly~ but he's always been like that so I don't worry about it. Had his first series of vaccines 4 weeks ago and it was no issue.

So that the history. So last Friday morning I go out to do morning chores~ fed him his grain and then came through with the syringe to give him his vaccine booster (syringe filled at vets office Thursday evening, kept in fridge till shortly before I administered it Friday morning). So everything is fine~ I pin him against the fence and give the shot deep in the rear thigh muscle. He twitches as expected

Looks up at me
Rolls his eyes into the back of his head and falls over!
I thought he was dead!!
I freaked! Can't remember how to find his pulse, it's 7am and vet is not open yet, I'm in the yard by myself with a calf I apparently just killed with a vaccine!

I shook him, pushed him around, found his pulse (not dead) shook him some more, considered panicking and decided it wouldn't help. After what felt like an hour but was probably less than a minute he opened his eyes and lay there. A few minutes of laying there while I pushed, shook and pulled and he stood up. A few minutes of looking like he would fall back down, rear leg where he got the shot shaking like crazy while I reconsidered panicking and then he went back to his normal self. Finished his breakfast and was back in the pasture before the vet even opened at 8am.

And then I forgot about it and didn't call the vet and ask if that was an expected reaction to getting a vaccine.

So now that I've remembered..............
Anyone else ever have one faint?

[agmantoo]

I think what you observed was just shock. When I ear tag and band the calves I am doing it alone and in the pasture with the cows. I have learned that once I get the calf held by a rope to put my foot on the rope as near its head as possible. Then I grasp the front and rear leg nearest me and pick the calf up. I then drop the calf about a foot on to the ground. This shock is usually enough to cause the eyes to roll back into the head and the calf will just lay there. I band and then ear tag. The banding is normally without incident. The ear tagging causes the calf to suddenly "come back to life" and I have trouble releasing the rope.

[topside1]

Cheryl, my guess is that you hit an important nerve with the needle...I'm almost positive. How about sticking them in the neck muscle, a much better choice. Less roasts and steaks in the neck. When you have a moment, google IM and Sub Q shot locations.....Topside

[gone-a-milkin]

I am pretty sure it was just shock. I recently had a calf pull that stunt on me when I was moving a strawbale and bumped the metal shelves with it. There was a CRASH! as the spare parts bucket tipped over and then another CRASH! as that calf fell over sideways into the panel fence. Nothing fell ON him, not even really close to him. He layed out with his eyes closed briefly then shivered all over and finally got back up. Sheesh. I guess I scared the daylights out of him. LOL.

I had a mare (briefly!) who would do the same thing everytime you cinched the saddle down on her back. She would 'pass out'. Seriously. I never knew what type of trauma she must have had to be that terrified of the cinch. She would fall down, eyes glazed over, then shudder all over, then get back up. I ended up selling her as a broodmare. Way too dangerous to have fainting horses around for me.

[myersfarm]

Shock i agree

[MARYDVM]

If you accidentally inject a medication formulated for IM injection into a blood vessel you can achieve anything from collapse to a seizure. Even just a little bit circulated to the blood vessels in the brain will bring on an instant reaction. For a really spectacular reaction use a thick drug like penicillin. I've taken a couple of calls from horse owners who thought they'd killed their animals with pennG shots. Both times the horses had recovered by the time I arrived at the farm.

Since the larger blood vessels always run with a nerve beside them, it sounds like the OP may have hit both with the same needle stick in the calf.

[Cheryl aka JM]

Thanks everyone. I wasn't too worried since he seemed fine now~ but I was a bit concerned about it. Knowing how to avoid it again is very helpful. I looked it up as Topside suggested and that actually exactly where the vet explained I should give shots to our new horse if I ever need too. He explained that Thursday night when he filled the syringe for the calf that I gave Friday morning.......I'm guessing he thought I was bright enough to make the connection to doing the same for the calf but all he SAID was In Muscle so I aimed at the biggest muscle I could find!

Calf got to go out into the big pasture with the bigger calves now that he is weaned and has all his vaccines. He seems much happier out with the others than he was in his little pen by himself. Moves better too~ he can really book he wants too! (Like when the horse wanted to play tag with the calves!)