Abscess Leg and swollen jooint

[KathyLSmith]

Hello all I'm new to this forum and I have a question. I have an younger cow that calved and the mother got an infection in her leg and abscesses. The vet came out and lanced it open and gave her Nuflor and we had to do daily flushing. After several weeks I notice the infection still not gone and the joint of her leg is swollen twice it's normal size. So after two months of treating this cow and I have removed her calf from her due to her weight loss I'm still nowhere with this infection. We continued with a regimen of Nuflor every other day for 10 days and it seemed to work but the fever keeps coming back. She is eating drinking and I give her gain twice a day. The vet states I should dispose of her but she's not giving up yet. I have had cows over my life time but never anything like this. Any advice please.

 

[Jogeephus]

Listen to your vet.

 

[skyhightree1]

let her joint be replaced by wheels...ASAP

 

[branguscowgirl]

:welcome:
If you are dead set on keeping her........The vet probably needs to open it up and culture the organism to see what antibiotic it is sensitive to. If the infection truly is in the bone/joint, it would be a minimum of 6 weeks on the right antibiotic. (I am not a vet, just my opinion. :2cents: )
Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Could be a thorn or piece of wire in there. Vet should have found it when he lanced.

A mesquite thorn gave me a pretty good fight with an abscess in a calf. No bone infection. Fill and void and flush, fill and flush. Was using an iodine and peroxide solution. Pretty sure what I pulled out was a long mesquite thorn.

NuFlour is good stuff. But you are talking a really long period. I would try alternating Pennicilin and La200 if the NuFlour is not working.

Pretty sad when you have to dispose of one and take a complete loss. You have vet bills on top of everything. You could be money ahead to just sell her as others have suggested.

 

[jerry27150]

I would give her good dose of 2day penicillin every 2 days % rub bag balm on the joint itself

 

[KathyLSmith]

Thank you for all you posting and comments. I think I will give her another week since she is slowly improving and will alternate meds. She really has come along way. I just wished I would have taken the calf off her sooner and maybe her weight would not have declined. In all my years of cattle I never had this type of an issue.

 

[cowgirl8]

We have a 5 month old calf we are treating for a joint infection...The news isnt good for you cow. She's never going to be normal, your vet is correct. Right now we are taking our calf to the vet so that he can irrigate the joint with DMSO every 5ish days. Had it done last week, then again Monday and he said that if its not better, we'll do it again Friday. Its not better so, ugh, he'll go again tomorrow. We've spent around 300 so far on him and its hopeless.
We also had a newborn get joint infections, got him treated very early. His joints look normal, but you can tell they ache him still months later. He didnt grow and moves very funny.

 

[KathyLSmith]

Cowgirl8 thank you and this has been my concern. My vet cost are not as high since I do a lot of it myself with the guidance of my vet but non the less this is a business for us and if I can't have her produce babies she's no good to us but on the other hand I'm willing to do what I can to see if I can get her to this point. A friend just told me to use plantain from the yard and blend it up and wrap it on the joint. This is suppose to reduce infection and swelling. This is a weed that grows in most yards. Thank for your word of advice!