Swollen knee on calf.

[hannaj]

Little back story on the calf. She was born October 16th. About 3 weeks after that we were out of town for about 3 days & we had been checking on her every day until we left out because she was quite small, everything was great & she had no issues at all. Very healthy & playful. When we returned that 3rd evening we went out to check on everything & found her in not good shape, she had been stepped on which caused an abscess on her left hip but nothing was actually broken. We began administering antibiotics because she was in very poor shape & I didn’t want to drain the abscess without getting them in her system.

Fast forward to about 3 weeks later we’ve been on a great road to recovery with her, bottle feeding & starting on a bit of starter feed for her, she’s kept separate from all other cattle just because of the situation, (her mama is rather old & didn’t have much of a bag to begin with so she quickly dried up) & I noticed her front right knee to swell & within two days it was the size of a small apple, only the front is swollen, that back is perfectly normal. So we began antibiotics (3ML) or Noromycin 300 LA & I have been applying DMSO (I’m aware of the controversy of use of DMSO in slaughter beef, but she will not be used for beef, if we’re able to fix the issue with her being 100% well she’ll just be a pet, I’ve grown very fond of her). The swelling is hard, no soft spots that are prominent, the temperature is quite close to the other knee so if there is fever, it’s very small. Her naval looks great, so I don’t feel that it is Navel or Joint ill. I know that a very rare number of calves can have Mycoplasma without signs of pneumonia, so I’m just stumped on if it could possibly be that or some other diseases I’m unaware of? Or, could she have just sprained/twisted it trying to get up & being a little hindered due to the left hip still healing.

I know several are going to say take her to the vet, but we live about 2 hours from the closest vet but there’s no danger to her & she’s eating, walking, grazing, drinking, laying down on her own & standing, I’d rather not put the stress of hauling her to a vet unless it’s our last resort.

Sorry for the book above, but I feel all of it is important to understand where she is at. I appreciate anyone taking the time to read & give an advice with any experience someone has maybe had with the same type of ordeal.

Thanks, Hanna.

[Kelsey]

Sorry, I don't have any ideas. But it might be helpful to others if you post some pictures.
Use Tapatalk app for a phone; for desktop upload pics to a host site like Flickr, then copy image link into image icon here.

[mommasquilts]

Welcome to KFC!!

Is this a dairy or beef calf? How do you know she got stepped on? Was the abscess on her hip drained? Where in general do you live? Did she get any Probios or other probiotic along with the antibiotic? Where was she born? Was it in a corral or lot, or was she out in the pasture?

[hannaj]

Kelsey,

Thank you! I’ve been trying to figure out how to upload a picture & couldn’t find anywhere. Obviously I’m new to posting on this site, lol. Thank you!

[moca]

Her navel is right dry?

[nina]

Is it possible she wasn't stepped on but suffered bites? Puncture wounds? Dog attack? Was the first abscess oozing? Seems like if she was stepped on and the skin didn't break that swelling would be a hematoma. The swollen knee if the bone is infected is going to be a problem. It still might be joint ill. Symptoms that are common are generally what we look for but atypical symptoms happen. It's promising she is eating, walking etc. but she might be in pain. Does she stand in a hunched way? I'm with you on adding stress by a long vet trip I would doubly make sure she has no challenges for a while, food water shelter all as easy as possible and fluffy dry bedding. Pictures will help a lot. Someone on this site will surely have had a similar problem and recognize it from photos. If you decide to take her to the vet, put some square bales in the trailer for her to brace against.

[hannaj]

Dec 5, 2020 22:43:00 GMT -5 nina said:

Is it possible she wasn't stepped on but suffered bites? Puncture wounds? Dog attack? Was the first abscess oozing? Seems like if she was stepped on and the skin didn't break that swelling would be a hematoma. The swollen knee if the bone is infected is going to be a problem. It still might be joint ill. Symptoms that are common are generally what we look for but atypical symptoms happen. It's promising she is eating, walking etc. but she might be in pain. Does she stand in a hunched way? I'm with you on adding stress by a long vet trip I would doubly make sure she has no challenges for a while, food water shelter all as easy as possible and fluffy dry bedding. Pictures will help a lot. Someone on this site will surely have had a similar problem and recognize it from photos. If you decide to take her to the vet, put some square bales in the trailer for her to brace against.

She had no bite marks of any sort, no scratches or blood. Sure I guess anything is possible, it’s just the whole situation & how we found her. Some kind of trauma has happened to that back left hip area & just based off things we’ve all seen & been around thats what makes the most sense. She can put weight on the back leg now, it’s just tender you can tell & day by day she puts more weight on it. No, the abscess never oozed, we drained it ourselves & the next day it was 100% better as was her attitude & eating habits. She doesn’t stand in a hunched way she stands, walks & lays down on her own well. She has a dry corral in a covered barn with heat lamps, bedding is changed everyday, I let her out to graze during the day’s so she isn’t cooped up but she’s not with other cattle just to be safe. Thanks for the suggestion of the square bales!

I’ll get a picture uploaded, sorry I got really busy & away from my phone last night!

[hannaj]

This was taken last night. Thanks everyone for taking their time to talk with me!

[hannaj]

Dec 5, 2020 20:26:11 GMT -5 moca said:

Her navel is right dry?

Yep! Her navel looks great!

[blaithin]

Getting stepped on shouldn't cause an abscess. Abscess is a puncture of some kind that creates a pocket of infection. For the most part it has no access to the rest of their system and antibiotics wouldn't have even touched it. Depending how close to the hip joint it was, the initial puncture could have introduced bacteria into the joint/blood stream.

Joint ill does not need to have a navel infection to occur, and it definitely doesn't need to have a navel infection that was so prominent it was noticed and treated. Any source of bacteria that gets into the blood stream can find a home in the joints. Navel is just generally the most common source in young calves.

Treatment of any infection in the joint needs to be fairly heavy hitting. Resflor/Nuflor kind of stuff generally. If people can't afford the heavier drugs or can't get a vet to prescribe them and are in an area where they can get penicillin/oxy/noromycin then some people have had success treating it with a long, long course of high doses of these drugs. A search on the forum should find the amounts used but it's something like double the dose, daily for 3 weeks.

Searching the forum will also find where people have used DMSO in the treatment. Sometimes with mixing the abx in the DMSO to try and get it right into the joint.

The initial infection can usually be treated alright, however depending how damaged the joint gets they can have a poor prognosis as they gain weight and frequently develop arthritis in the joint.

[mommasquilts]

I had a calf get stepped on by her over protective mom about 3 -4weeks ago. She limps and you can feel crepitus in the hip when she moves. Vet says it is likely to heal on its own. I think it is unlikely that your calf’s hip abscess was caused by getting stepped on. Her knee looks like joint ill.

[bigredcow]

I would do nuflor every 4 days for 2-3 weeks. I've done that with a few at work (2 joint ill, 1 stepped on foot) it can be any kind of bacteria that goes septic and settles in the joint, it doesn't have to get in through the naval

[sunburst4]

I would do baytril every other day 3 times if you think it is Mycoplasma as baytril has shown to be effective against it. Otherwise nuflor is pretty effective on joint ill.