Post by penka78 on Oct 22, 2007 4:24:28 GMT -5
Funosey was due 16 days ago. She was AI'ed, so the due date was "a sure thing". She didn't have any signs of upcoming calving, no swallen vulva, no full udder, so Linda assumed she didn't take and was just fat. A few days ago Funosey's colostrum came in - but was mistaken for mastitis, since she "wasn't pregnant". Tonight, she had a heifer calf. She is rather small, and very skinny, especially in the hind end. Her head is misshapen due to some deformity. The bulges in the mouth appear to be the lower gum tissue with teeth protruding whichever way. The mass appears "squooshy", as in may be filled with liquid, may be just soft-tissue. The jaw bone either has anormal growth in it, or has been pushed out by the soft-tissue swelling in the mouth. She appears to be blind. the left eye has a milky dot over the pupil and the right eye appears cloudy. She does show some recognition of sharp light-dark changes and movement with the right eye. She has a good suckling reflex and has taken some colostrum by bottle. She ended up being able to stand up and walk around on shaky legs. The weirdest thing yet was when she went pooh. She appeared to be in pain and moo-ed several times. The pooh came out in a long string that kept going and going. Imagine a 2 foot string of pooh that looked like linked mini-sausages. It couldn't be broken apart when pooled on. It broke on its own once, but then she continued to pooh and another almost 2 foot section came out. Is it possible she slaughed off the lining of her intestines? It didn't have any blood vessels in it and was colored like pooh, and didn't have any decaying odor. I was thinking that may be the anomaly in her mouth stimulated the suckling reflex while in the uterus and she swallowed way too much amniotic fluid.
I've suggested to Linda to take the calf to our cheap old-timer vet to get a quick forecast. I'm positive that this calf couldn't survive on its own but without the "official confirmation" Linda will keep on trying to save it.
The cow was AI'ed by a seasoned ex-dairyman with a choice Jersey semen $$