I have a 6 day old calf that seems to be blind. Was wondering what could have caused this. Mineral dificiency maybe? I don't believe she was like that at birth. Eyes are real cloudy & noticed that they tear quite a bit. One eye isn't quite as bad as the other. Anything that might help this? I gave her an LA200 shot already. Thanks in advance!

-- Wendy (weiskids@nalu.net), March 19, 2000

Answers

It might be pink eye too from the sounds of it. Try giving it trioptic ointment, you can get it from the vet or supply place like jeffers. Hope this helps... good luck.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), March 19, 2000.

I agree that it sounds like pinkeye. La200 and triple antibiotic eye ointment will cure this. But check closely to see if the bottom eyelid could be turned in. This is called entropian. It can be corrected surgically or in mild cases with tape or small metal clips on the skin below the eye. If you want to keep this calf I would have a vet check it. Not treating pinkeye or the inverted eyelid can lead to permanent blindness.

-- Kate Henderson (sheeplady@catskill.net), March 21, 2000.

I may be wrong but I didn't think pink-eye was much of a problem except in real warm weather and when there are lots of flies. We cured pink eye in a cow once by putting a powdered "puffer" specifically for pink eye in her eye every day for several days and put an eye shield on it and gave her a shot of penicillin for several days running. These can probably be ordered from Jeffers but if you are in a real hurry you can probably get them at a farm supply store. Her eye was cloudy and oozing before we treated it.

-- barbara (barbaraj@mis.net), March 21, 2000.

It is a little early for pinkeye. I would guess that the momma cow had chlymidia or something of the such. I would use teremyacin in the eye, you can order it or some larger feed stores carry it. You might want to check the eye for inverted eyelid, like was stated above. The easiest way to fix it is to just snip it with a sharp pair of sissors, it will spread apart, and heal. It works really well. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), March 21, 2000.

Way to early for pink eye.I had a calf born blind one time. His eyes were all cloudy and sunken back in his head. The momma cow would not have anything to do with him,so I bottle raised him.He would follow my voice and thought I was His momma. When He got five hundred pounds I took him to slaughter house. He got to where he would run into trees and trucks parked in drive. Anyway LA 200 is good for pink eye and a patch.The sun makes in worst.Keeping the feild there in cliped also helps. High grass bothers there eyes.

-- Dennis Carpenter (dgcn2country@aol.com), April 05, 2000.

I suspect the previous responders are correct about your calf needing antibiotics or something, but wanted to comment in case someone else with a blind young animal reads this. Several years ago, when we still had sheep, our neighbors, who raised purebred merinos and shetlands, had a couple of blind lambs, as well as some other serious health problems. We also had a blind lamb that year -- we did some investigating and found that the grain supplement we'd been using wasn't correctly formulated for sheep. (We were buying feed together.) That was the only lead we could find, though I suppose it might have been something else. Sure points up how important it is to be sure you're feeding the critters right -- and even more important, to be sure you're feeding your family right!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 12, 2000.