4 quarters of mastitis

[BettyLandercasper]

If there is a dairy near you and her mastitis isn't too bad, and you can work with this cow, why not try buying her a baby dairy bull calf, it would have to be newborn, unlicked, fed colostrum.

The mastitis if not too bad might resolve if she would let a calf suck, and then she would be raising a calf. Some cows will take an orphan, if the cow has the right temperament. Then you could sell her in the fall, and the calf too.

Perhaps it's way too late for this.

 

[Caustic Burno]

The cost of antibiotics is negligible compared to the cost of replacing a cow.

Caustic - did you manage to save the cow's production by stripping her out once a day? Did she have a calf on her as well?
I've only dealt with dairies, and the *only* time I've ever attempted clearing up mastitis once a day is with dry cows when I'm so pushed for time I can't justify getting them in the second time. Milking out is as important as the antibiotic if not more so, and less frequent milking will slow her recovery.
LA200 is good for mastitis. Pen, my vet says no, to use the specific mastitis formulations instead, I think the truth is you just need higher doses to get a high enough level of the drug into the udder.

Depends on what you called saved. Now this on beef cow's only, Now I haven't had a pile of case's over the last 10 years or so . Three that I can think of one cow all four quarters returned lost a quarter on another and one lost two.
She raised a great calf on two quarters, she got culled the next year. The twin pen keeps active penicillin in the blood stream for 48 hour's LA is a great broad spectrum antibotic for 72 hour's for bacteria.

 

[regolith]

I don't know that a direct comparison can be made.
It's not unusual for a treated quarter to be lighter than the others, then come back to full production next calving. I've permanently lost one quarter this spring and that's the first lost due to mastitis in four and a half years of owning this herd, and I've seen a few cases in that time.
One big difference with dairy cows is that they're constantly monitored for mastitis so it tends to be detected and treated early.
I've got one now that may not come back, cow stood on the teat a few days ago which has finished that quarter for this lactation. *If* mastitis doesn't take hold I'll probably be able to milk it again when she calves and it's healed.

 

[Britta]

Thank you all for responding. Her mastitis only developed in one quarter, but now that quarter is swollen and bleeding. Without taking her to a vet, I don't know how to turn this condition around.

 

[regolith]

Thank you all for responding. Her mastitis only developed in one quarter, but now that quarter is swollen and bleeding. Without taking her to a vet, I don't know how to turn this condition around.

This is the same cow you posted about a month ago? That quarter is dead. If she isn't sick, let it run its course, the quarter will burst out and reduce. Otherwise euthanase.
If you want a second opinion try your vet.
By bleeding, do you mean bleeding or do you mean oozing brown fluids through the skin and/or teat? The latter is an indicator of gangrenous (often e. coli) mastitis.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Thank you all for responding. Her mastitis only developed in one quarter, but now that quarter is swollen and bleeding. Without taking her to a vet, I don't know how to turn this condition around.

This is the same cow you posted about a month ago? That quarter is dead. If she isn't sick, let it run its course, the quarter will burst out and reduce. Otherwise euthanase.
If you want a second opinion try your vet.
By bleeding, do you mean bleeding or do you mean oozing brown fluids through the skin and/or teat? The latter is an indicator of gangrenous (often e. coli) mastitis.

Great gobs of cat shyt that cow has been suffering that long. Totally unacceptable.

 

[GMN]

This sounds like a situation that could have been prevented with alot more attention. Did the calf die because it did not know how to attach to Moms nipples, starved to death? If the moms bag is inflamed and blleding she may have septicemia, which is very serious-infection running thru her blood, it may even kill her-you should really take her to a vet or have one come out-is the milk normal color or is it brown and clear with a foul odor? Is this a first calf heifer or a older cow? You won't get a penny for her at any salebarn in her present condition, so you will either have to take her to a vet or treat her yourself.

 

[BettyLandercasper]

It sounds like the cow is going to slough off that teat, that she likely had either a hot e. coli or a staph mastitis, if she is no longer "ill" she will wall off the infection, separate it from her body. With luck, the unhealthy tissue will peal away from the healthy and she will live. There may be maggots involved.
Without luck the infection will erode into one of the main blood vessels and she will die of infection or bleed to death.

A big dose of antibiotics when this was first noticed would have been a good thing. But even with aggressive treatment some infections are so severe that gangrene develops and the teat falls off.

I'd recommend that you call a veterinarian or at least a cow person, someone with a lot of experience, to help you at least get salvage value for this cow and also to see if her discomfort can be helped.