Chinnu's Comeback

We had earlier written about the birth of Chinnu. We had named her Chinnu because she seemed such a tiny calf, but as she grew up, her size was quite normal. 

Some months ago, we had a series of cow crises. Bindu, our first cow, delivered a stillborn calf. The very next day, a healthy calf died in a bizarre accident.

We had hardly recovered from this double blow when in the very same week, Chinnu suddenly fell ill. She started become unsteady on her feet, and would not eat or drink anything. We tried getting a vet over to treat her, and when she didn't get better, we took her down to a friend's farm where a vet's visit was easier. Several days of treatment by a visiting vet, and at the Dindigul polyclinic, were all of not much avail. By the end of that week, we almost felt like giving up, but Chinnu seemed stubborn. Many of those days, we woke up feeling certain that she would not have made it through the night, but each time we found her clinging on to her life. So we said, why not make one more attempt at treating her? By then completely unable to walk, nor able to keep her neck straight, we loaded her onto our pickup and drove to the government vet hospital in Namakkal - one of the few places to admit veterinary patients.

Chinnu, unable to stand or keep her neck straight

Chinnu waiting for an X-ray :-) 

At Namakkal, the chief of medicine studied her for all of 5 minutes before coming up with his diagnosis: meningitis.  The treatments started right away. Three or four times a day, the veterinary university students would come in groups and give her injections, take blood samples and so on. At nights, some of the attenders of the other "patients" kindly kept an eye on Chinnu while we stayed in a nearby hotel. The turning point came on the fourth morning, when we found Chinnu standing up by herself. 

From then on, the improvement was quick and steady. And exactly a week after she was admitted, the doctor happily declared that Chinnu was well enough to go home!

Back home, riding in the back, but this time standing up!!

Chinnu looks happy to be back in our farm, and so are we!

Sometimes, we watch Chinnu now, and her ordeal seems just like a bad dream, and we're so relieved and thankful to have her back with us.