The Baby Calf Named Bentley That Did Not Want To Eat
Erin Amerman, the founder of Critter Creek Farm Sanctuary got a call about a baby calf named Bentley who was unable to nurse. When she first got him, he was only 17 days old. He was very weak and he would not interact with Erin much. She did not know what to do with the little calf, since he was completely refusing to eat for unknown reasons.
In the clinic, the vets diagnosed him with something called “Dummy calf syndrome”. Calves with this condition are born lacking oxygen and because of that, they do not know how to nurse. In Bentley’s case, he did not even want to try. This made Erin very anxious. She was doing whatever she could to get him interested in food.
One day she decided to introduce Bentley to another one of her caws, with the name Stanley. She used to have a similar condition, also lacking oxygen at birth. Erin thought that maybe the two of them would be able to understand each other. Maybe the friendship between them would possibly make Bentley more cheerful. She did not expect much. But the day he met Stanley happened to be the first day he actually ate something solid, something except milk.
Bentley and Stanley started to spend more time together, getting to know each other. Stanley seemed to be able to bring out the happy calf in him. Bentley is a joyful calf that is friendly with everybody but he does not interact with anyone the way he does with Stanley. Bentley started to develop and his personality started to come out only when the chose Stanley to be a part of his family.
Recently, during a walk, Bentley noticed some moss on the ground and started to chew on it. That was the first time he ate something willingly, giving Erin a small glimmer of hope.
