Calf with bent front legs

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kyshorthorns

Active member
Joined
Jan 20, 2011
Messages
35
I had a heifer born yesterday and she has to walk on her front ankles.  I know its probably from where the tendons havent straightened out yet, but I have heard different opinions on how to help her out.  Just wondering what you guys thought would be the best the solution.
 

hntwhitetail

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 11, 2010
Messages
1,452
You can work with the joints.. bending them and working them out.  A lot of times you can give them an oral anti-inflamatory for dogs that usually works good on helping w/ the pain and getting her to get up on all 4's.
 

linnettejane

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Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
2,233
Location
eastern ky
i had one do this a few years ago and we made splints to put on it...within a week it was straightened right out...its some kind of deficiency, cant remember right now off the top of my head...
 

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firesweepranch

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Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Messages
1,685
Location
SW MO
We had a set of twins born with contracted tendons this year. The heifer walked out of it in a few days, not that bad. The bull calf was a little worse, so we took him to the vet. Beforehand, we had put on splints and vet wrapped the pasterns. When we got him to the vet, the vet immediately cut them off. He told us they do more damage than good. He gave the calf an IV shot of tetracycline (they do this in horses) and told us to not wrap the feet, he needed to walk out of it on his own. He did suggest some physical therapy by stretching the tendons out several times a day. After several days, the calf was still having difficulty, so the vet perscribed more IV tetracycline. I gave it to him, and within two days he was much better. I guess he just needed a larger dose!
Hope that helps. The biggest thing for us was making sure he got up and nursed.
 
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