My cria is spending entire day with her head down. She is able to move the head up and down and to the sides but never lifts it up to be horizontal with the ground. If I help her head up she holds it up for brief times but her neck is not steady. In addition to not being able to lift her neck and head she has difficulty cushing down (most of the time falls on her side). Can not get up from side position but is able to get up herself if she is helped up to cushing position. She is able to walk, run, and jump but her gait is uncoordinated. Does very little jumping or running though. She stopped nursing from her mother - does not make any attempts to go the udder. Does not follow her mother around or other herd-mates. She drinks milk from the bottle eagerly and is taking more than the weight maintenance amount. Very peculiar thing - she started nibbling grass when outside or nibbling hay on the ground when inside and she does this non stop. I saw her trying to eat grass before she fell ill but it was casual and not this obsessive. These symptoms started 5 days ago after she got treated for an infection with one injection of the antibiotic. Vet suspected mycoplasma as she had very crusty eyes, ears, and nose as well as respiratory symptoms. Once physical symptoms started vet had us start 5 day course of another antibiotic. The theory was that the bacteria may be affecting the brain and causing neurological symptoms. We are on day 4 of the second antibiotic treatment and so far there has been very little improvement - she lifts up her her slightly higher at times and yesterday was able to cush down without falling a few times. I have cleaned up her eyes, ears, and around the nose of the crusty material but the discharge started coming back and is crusting up again. Per vet advice I administered ivermectin orally yesterday to treat potential mites. I read about thiamine deficiency and neurological symptoms is causing and am planning to talk to the vet about it. Vet administered vitamin B complex injection one time since the physical / behavioral symptoms started. I will greatly appreciate all the ideas on what might be wrong with this cria. Thank you!!
