wobbly calves

[bunny]

We have a 10 day old heifer calf, swollen navel March 17, started her on Nuflor every other day as advise by the vet. She seemed to be getting better until yesterday, found her flat out and heavy breathing. Doesn't have much interest in sucking, just tastes it. She walks around with her tail in the air now whenever she's up. Haven't seen her have a bm for 3 days, urinated a lot yesterday. Her temp was 39 this morning. Got Anti-Gas from the vet and gave her 2 doses of that last night, still no stool..
We treated her navel with iodine, like we do all the calves, no probs before now. She got her first colostrum from the bottle too.
She's still not doing well, any suggestions???? Thanks everyone.

[cheetah]

bunny, I think you should give the calf "mineral oil", but be very careful. Since it is tasteless, it easily goes down the windpipe instead of the esophagus, unless you use a tube to feed it. I don't like tubes, so I mix the oil with molases or sugar and administer it with a syringe or even a small spoon. It help for me.There is mineral oil for vet use, dos.240 to 960 ml depending on body weight and severity of condition.

[bunny]

Thanks cheetah, she's actually had a stool since my question. And I don't like tubing either.
She's still very listless, and feels a bit warm, she won't eat any roughage like all the others. Gave her another dose of the Nuflor, not sure if it's doing the trick though. One more dose to go according to the vet directions. Hope she's better tomorrow. Thanks again for the advise.. Nice to know someone is there to help.

[farmerboy]

Bunny a vet told us once that there is barely any blood flow around the navel area, and so consequently you need to needle for a long time; told us to use white penicillin daily if it is very bad, otherwise LA white every 3 days. Someone told us to use Nuflor, only one needle needed and it will be good; however, we never got any response from Nuflor at all for navels. Does it work for you?

[kato]

Nuflor gets into tissues better than a lot of drugs. Joints too.

The poor circulation thing makes sense, and the navel is a tough thing to treat at the best of times. Sometimes it takes a lot longer than you might think. You think you have it cleared up, and it's back.

Could this calf have an abscess developing in there? Sometimes the infection carries on up into the gut, and gets pretty nasty.

[kato]

Oh yea, if she's really not sucking much, it might be time to tube feed her. It's not hard if you use one of those feeder bags. That big knob on the end makes it pretty hard to go wrong. Just make sure you have it all the way in. Halfway in and you'll drown the calf.

[nerves]

We used to calve about 500 head of cows in January and we would see alot of navel infection in steer calves, we figured because they were peeing on the navel cords and it took many days to dry up because it was freezing and thawing alot. We now calve in april and very rarely see it any more. The best treatment when they were bad was 10cc of synergistin and 10cc of borgal given separatly at the same time in differnt muscle locations. If she is really sick you might have to do it again in a couple of days. Like the last repondant said the infection pocket could break and go inside and be very nasty.

[nerves]

Also forgot to mention feel the navel and squeeze the cord to make sure it is infected. If it is infected the cord will feel like a stick and have an odor to it. If it is soft examine it closer you may also have a hernia. Good luck with her.

[bunny]

Thanks for all the info!! You guys are terrific.
She definitely has an infected navel, and I sure hope she doesn't have an abscess! I gave her the 4th shot of Nuflor yesterday, still kinda droopy. Doesn't have any interest in forage like the other calves either.
I sure don't want to get another one with a navel infection, how about some advice on not having that happen again??? We make sure we have clean bedding for the cow to calve on, clean it up and put down new straw as soon as the calf is out. Any more suggestions??

[dguignio]

If I recall in the fine print of the nuflor info it says it may cause loss of apetite.