suck calf - looses power to back legs

tellmeabit

hi All,
moving the few cattle on Monday, and spotted one suck calf, 3 week old acting strange.
she was walking and seemed to loose power in her back legs, like she was going to drag them. after watching for a while she ended up lying down and kicking the back legs when she was down, did this twice and I decided to house her. inside she didn't seem to be doing this but was shivering (I was shivering myself, it was bucketing down with rain). took temp (104f or 40 C) so gave her a shot of hexasol la after a call to vet. she also advised that it may be colic and to give her baking soda and observer for swelling. no sign of swelling or same behaviour. has anyone seen this before?
thanks,

Base price

tellmeabit wrote: »

hi All,
moving the few cattle on Monday, and spotted one suck calf, 3 week old acting strange.
she was walking and seemed to loose power in her back legs, like she was going to drag them. after watching for a while she ended up lying down and kicking the back legs when she was down, did this twice and I decided to house her. inside she didn't seem to be doing this but was shivering (I was shivering myself, it was bucketing down with rain). took temp (104f or 40 C) so gave her a shot of hexasol la after a call to vet. she also advised that it may be colic and to give her baking soda and observer for swelling. no sign of swelling or same behaviour. has anyone seen this before?
thanks,

I presume she is still suckling. Can't say I have ever seen one loosing power in their hind legs and still appear healthy. Calves with meningitis will loose power suddenly but they would be very sick at that stage. I can understand why your vet suggested a colic/severe bloat as that causes them to kick their bellies/lie down kicking.

tellmeabit

Cheers for reply. I have never seen calf suffering from colic either. Ya she is happy out suckling away. Thought meningitis when I saw her but maybe older calves were jumping on her might have hurt her back. Will have to keep an eye on her.

Base price

tellmeabit wrote: »

Cheers for reply. I have never seen calf suffering from colic either. Ya she is happy out suckling away. Thought meningitis when I saw her but maybe older calves were jumping on her might have hurt her back. Will have to keep an eye on her.

As you said possibly caused by older calves jumping on her but I wonder would that cause her temp to rise. Anyway she sounds like she is on the mend and hopefully keep that way.
**Keep an eye on her for pneumonia. Weather is ****e and her health has been compromised.

RD10

Have seen a few lie down kicking at their bellies like that.
Whats this with the baking soda?

Alibaba

RD10 wrote: »

Have seen a few lie down kicking at their bellies like that.
Whats this with the baking soda?

I'm no expert but I think the baking soda neutralises the gas built up in the stomach and gives them relief.

Base price

RD10 wrote: »

Have seen a few lie down kicking at their bellies like that.
Whats this with the baking soda?

There is a difference between baking soda and bread soda. Bread Soda -Sodium Bicarbonate is sold in Ireland as Gem Bread Soda http://www.gempackfoods.ie/products/bread-soda