Trigger's Valentine's Week
Feb 11,2007 10:03 PM | Work
Today we learned how to castrate
a calf. Trigger was born about in October, and
his mother died during calving. That was how we
came to raise him. A friend knew we wanted to
bottle-raise a calf so we were on call when
there was an orphan. You have never seen
anything as cute as a baby calf (unless you've
seen one). They are extremely clumsy, and not
just when they're a few days old and their legs
are wobbly. This poor fellow sometimes falls
down if you look at him cross-ways. He's got
long top and bottom eyelashes, a soft nose, and
likes to be petted on the throat and cheeks.
Since his career will be to delight kids, he needs to be as gentle and docile as possible. Needless to say, we couldn't let him grow up a bull, and he'd have to be de-horned to be safe. The best time to do each of these minor operations is a few days to a couple weeks after birth. Unfortunately, we were a little late on the draw and decided to do it today, at about 4 months of age. His horns are just starting to peek out of his skin and are currently about 1/2" in diameter, just on the big side for the "hot iron" method of de-horning, and too small to cut off. We plugged the dehorning iron in to start warming up, and meanwhile decided to do the castration first.
Now, Cathy has many years of vet-tech work in her past and we have never taken a male cat to the bet to be neutered, yet all of our male cats are "sans ouefs". In theory, a mammal's a mammal, and a scrotum's a scrotum. We tied his feet together (like we'd seen at the rodeo) so he'd lay patiently on his side, collected our iodine, gauze, and a razor blade, and started in. For starters, 4-month--old calves are much stronger than cats, and you can't just wrap them up in a towel. To make a long story short, we got one testicle out and a testicular artery severed (sawed, not sliced, to minimize bleeding), but it was so traumatic for the amateur surgeons that we decided to make an emergency Sunday call to our vet, Dr. Rick Garner.
We carried Trigger on a blanket to the trailer (a Jersey guernsey), and I rode in the back with him, holding gauze to his messy scrotum. It was the first time I'd ridden in the trailer, and I must say, it gives you an appreciation for what the animals endure on the way to events every weekend. I will definitely watch the bumps from now on. We arrived at the vet clinic a few minutes before the doctor and Trigger was showing no signs of shock or distress. I personally would have checked out long before this point. Perhaps when my hands and feet were tied and I saw a razor blade. We explained to the good doctor that we were half done and panicked, opting for professional help. He looked at our work with patient understanding, fetched a couple medieval-looking tools from the back of his truck, and removed the other testicle in about 40 seconds with a quick scalpel swipe, a squeeze, a clamp, and a cut. Trigger only jumped a little, thankful for the speedy surgery compared to our digging and swearing.
This is where having a great vet is key. A good large animal veterinarian knows that his customers can't afford to pay a vet to do every shot or simple procedure that's needed when they run a farm. Most folks give their own shots, assist in birthings, perform wormings, and a few even do sutures when a clumsy horse gets cut on a barbed-wire fence. Country vets know this, and know that we love our animals and want to do right for them. Thus, they are "teaching doctors", helping educate their customers. They don't feel threatened by a pet owner that can learn how to give injections. They aren't concerned about "turf" when a knowledgeable customer brings info from the internet to help diagnose an animal's condition.
We asked if we would need to carry him in to an operating table, and he just said "Nah, we can do it right out here". We asked about sewing up the incisions and he advised leaving them alone to drain and avoid infection. He said that when you do a castration it's best to cut the slit big enough to allow drainage, minimizing the risk of infection.
In case you were wondering about the de-horning iron, we decided that Trigger had had enough excitement for the day, and that we'd put it off for a few days to let him relax. He is resting quietly tonight in the straw. He has a private room for recovery from a traumatic day. I don't think he'll even miss them tomorrow, but we'll never forget the experience.
Thanks for visiting!
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