Woody Tongue

I had never heard of ‘Woody Tongue’ until our little goat, Izzy, became ill this past summer, and she had problems swallowing and a neighbour thought it was ‘Woody Tongue’.

Important Bit First:

Call the Vet at once if you have an animal that is unwell, this information on ‘Woody Tongue’ is just that, information it is not a substitute for professional advice. So please call the vet if any of your animals are unwell.

I asked our vet about this and they told me the following:

What is Woody Tongue?

Woody tongue is a disease caused by a bacterial infection which mainly affects young cattle when they are getting their first teeth and the gums split and infection gets into the open wound from micro-organisms found in the soil. Once infected the young calf’s tongue will swell up and go hard, they may even get swelling to their gums as well.

What To Look For:

The young cow will be distressed, their tongue and gums inside their mouth have swollen and become hard.

They will have difficulty swallowing, as their tongue is literally like wood, hence the name ‘Woody Tongue’ because they are unable to swallow they will dribble as they cannot swallow their own saliva, think of having the worst sore throat, it must be something like that for them.

They will also be unable to feed properly, as they cannot chew the food or swallow it.

What to do:

Bring the affected animal inside, make sure it is warm and dry. Look inside their mouth to assess the problem:

Is it just the tongue that is swollen or are the gums and inside the lips swollen?

What colour is the inside of the lips? Pale, pink or red? Is the inside of the mouth dry? Is the calf dribbling?
These are important, the answers relate to the hydration status of your calf, in other words, the questions help assess if the calf is dehydrated or not.

Answer these questions as someone goes to phone the vet, then relay the answers to the vet, this will help get the correct medical treatment ASAP. Woody Tongue takes hold slowly and it can be a few days before the calf completely stops eating, so vigilance at teething time is important.

What is the Treatment?

Woody Tongue responds well to a course of antibiotics> I think it is a specific antibiotic.

Call the Vet at once if you have an animal that is unwell, this information on ‘Woody Tongue’ is just that, information it is not a substitute for professional advice. So please call the vet if any of your animals are unwell. I think if we know about these things we can help the animals sooner rather than later.

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