Bloated Steer + Vet's Advice=Winner!
Mar 24, 2018 14:39:42 GMT -5
Shawn, elia, and 21 more like this
Post by westxgrl13 on Mar 24, 2018 14:39:42 GMT -5
So when I was walking back to the house this morning from milking Katy Kow, I could see my husband down at the pen with the two butcher calves he brought home from another ranch a couple of days ago. I didn't think much about it until he texted me to say he was "walking a bloated calf around the pen." I went hieing down with baking soda to see if maybe we could get some down the calf (we never used it, by the way). I'm guesstimating that the steer calf weighs six hundred pounds? Five fifty?
The calf tried to lie down a few times, once even rolling over on his side and sticking his legs straight out like he'd been dead for three days. It took some convincing to get him back up that time. Once on his feet, he would kick at his belly, and back up, trying to get away from the pain. We walked the calf around and around the pens for two hours or more, with the calf letting air off like a bellows every little bit, plus peeing every couple of minutes and pooping total liquid slime.
In the meantime, my husband texted the vet, who, bless him, answered on a Saturday! He said to get six to eight ounces of vinegar in the calf and keep him moving. (That's why I am glad we didn't try to get baking soda into the steer--if we'd then added vinegar as per the vet's instructions, he would have erupted like Mt. Vesuvius! ) After getting the calf in the chute and catching his head in the headgate, we got some Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar in him. Once we had the vinegar in him, the calf stopped letting off air or pooping or peeing altogether. His left side stayed really bloated, and we kept him moving.
This is a picture of him from the front. See how his left side is puffed up about even with his backbone?
Here he is from the back. The expression someone used on here in the past year or so, "liquid unhappiness", describes the calf this morning perfectly! He walked along switching his tail and pottying, to let us know he was not a happy camper. I wouldn't begin to count the flecks and splats and spots of green stuff I am wearing from head to toe, just from being in the line of fire.
The vet texted again after awhile and gave my husband this further advice:
"Keep him moving. You can tube him with a garden hose (10 ft) with a smoothed end. Cut off metal, taper a little on edges and smooth with sandpaper. Use 1 1/4" pvc 20 inches long as speculum so he can't chew it. Grease hose with vaseline or mineral oil. Pass slowly and he'll swallow it. He'll cough big if in trachea. When it gurgles and blows you are there. Wiggle and blow to unclog it until he is deflated."
We got the calf back in the headgate (not very eager to get in there again, after getting dosed with ACV earlier!) and, after an impromptu rodeo, a turned-over headgate, a honked-off calf, and a second try, my husband got the PVC pipe in the steer's mouth, and I started feeding in the Vaselined-up garden hose. The steer wasn't really enthralled with the whole procedure, and I couldn't blame him, but my husband held onto him through all the thrashing, and we finally hit 'paydirt'. Foul gases started hissing out of the tube, and my husband or I would blow on the outside end of the hose whenever the hissing stopped, to move solid matter from the end of the hose. We removed the hose (keeping the PVC pipe in steer's mouth), then ran it in again, and that time we REALLY hit a pocket of air! Not only did we get a whole bunch of air out, but some rumen contents, as well. The smell was gaggifying, but it meant the steer was getting relief! After a final puff of air from our end, and an answering gust from the steer's rumen, we were shocked to see how flat his side had gone! Hooray!!!
That whole episode didn't rank up in the top ten of my favorite adventures ever, but we were kinda proud of ourselves for getting the air off the steer's poor distended rumen. Now we will watch like hawks for a repeat performance (hopefully not!), and watch more closely to see that he isn't hogging more than his share of the feed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: We love our vets out here in West Texas!
The calf tried to lie down a few times, once even rolling over on his side and sticking his legs straight out like he'd been dead for three days. It took some convincing to get him back up that time. Once on his feet, he would kick at his belly, and back up, trying to get away from the pain. We walked the calf around and around the pens for two hours or more, with the calf letting air off like a bellows every little bit, plus peeing every couple of minutes and pooping total liquid slime.
In the meantime, my husband texted the vet, who, bless him, answered on a Saturday! He said to get six to eight ounces of vinegar in the calf and keep him moving. (That's why I am glad we didn't try to get baking soda into the steer--if we'd then added vinegar as per the vet's instructions, he would have erupted like Mt. Vesuvius! ) After getting the calf in the chute and catching his head in the headgate, we got some Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar in him. Once we had the vinegar in him, the calf stopped letting off air or pooping or peeing altogether. His left side stayed really bloated, and we kept him moving.
This is a picture of him from the front. See how his left side is puffed up about even with his backbone?
Here he is from the back. The expression someone used on here in the past year or so, "liquid unhappiness", describes the calf this morning perfectly! He walked along switching his tail and pottying, to let us know he was not a happy camper. I wouldn't begin to count the flecks and splats and spots of green stuff I am wearing from head to toe, just from being in the line of fire.
The vet texted again after awhile and gave my husband this further advice:
"Keep him moving. You can tube him with a garden hose (10 ft) with a smoothed end. Cut off metal, taper a little on edges and smooth with sandpaper. Use 1 1/4" pvc 20 inches long as speculum so he can't chew it. Grease hose with vaseline or mineral oil. Pass slowly and he'll swallow it. He'll cough big if in trachea. When it gurgles and blows you are there. Wiggle and blow to unclog it until he is deflated."
We got the calf back in the headgate (not very eager to get in there again, after getting dosed with ACV earlier!) and, after an impromptu rodeo, a turned-over headgate, a honked-off calf, and a second try, my husband got the PVC pipe in the steer's mouth, and I started feeding in the Vaselined-up garden hose. The steer wasn't really enthralled with the whole procedure, and I couldn't blame him, but my husband held onto him through all the thrashing, and we finally hit 'paydirt'. Foul gases started hissing out of the tube, and my husband or I would blow on the outside end of the hose whenever the hissing stopped, to move solid matter from the end of the hose. We removed the hose (keeping the PVC pipe in steer's mouth), then ran it in again, and that time we REALLY hit a pocket of air! Not only did we get a whole bunch of air out, but some rumen contents, as well. The smell was gaggifying, but it meant the steer was getting relief! After a final puff of air from our end, and an answering gust from the steer's rumen, we were shocked to see how flat his side had gone! Hooray!!!
That whole episode didn't rank up in the top ten of my favorite adventures ever, but we were kinda proud of ourselves for getting the air off the steer's poor distended rumen. Now we will watch like hawks for a repeat performance (hopefully not!), and watch more closely to see that he isn't hogging more than his share of the feed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: We love our vets out here in West Texas!