One of our belties is about 3 years old. She gave birth to twins prematurely June of 2014 & we lost one of them. She was with a bull for a few months after this & we are not sure if she ever got pregnant-she never looked like she was getting bigger....about 3 weeks ago (beginning of May) she went lame & favored her front, right leg. Since then she looks like she walks normal but her lethargy has increased & she continues to lose weight. Any ideas of causes of these symptoms would be greatly appreciated.
Welcome to the forum. If you get a chance please jump over to the introduction section and introduce yourself. We like to know who were talking to
Do you have any idea what caused her to go lame? Is she on dry ground or wet/irrigated ground? Did she step on metal and poke a hole? Did you treat her with anything for her lameness? Does she have a temperature? Have you had a vet look at her? Does she have diarrhea? Is she eating and drinking normally?
She's pastured in a muck field, so we initially assumed that she hurt a muscle in a muddy spot. She won't let us take her temperature but her bowel movements seem regular. She continues to graze but not as much as she did a few weeks ago. We didn't give her anything for her lameness and that seems to have improved. There is no metal in her pasture. I know I'm not giving you much here...I was just hoping that the lameness in the front end followed by lethargy were symptomatic of something so we could help her...
Could very well be hoof rot. In a wet environment that is 100 times more likely a diagnosis. It's a bacterial infection between the "toes". That could be turning into a bigger (secondary) infection in the blood stream. Not sure though if the limp is better. Could be (if the ground is dry now) that the rot has cleared but has eaten away higher causing an infection. Do you have a chute to put her in to take her temp and evaluate her foot? If she's not eating as much I would highly recommend a vet though. The 2 things may very well not have anything to do with each other.
She didn't make it... We ended up putting her down. Turns out she had a dead fetus in her...I think maybe the lameness in her front end was unrelated & the fact that it occurred at the same time as the infection was coincidental, like you had mentioned.
