abscess, or or large bump on bull penis

[tryinhard]

We have a young Sim-Angus bull, has been workin good, but couple of weeks ago, I noticed something different when he got excited, I thought he may have gotten stung by a yellow jacket, wasp, or whatever, but after several days it hadn't gone down, took him to the vet. n he has a longer sheith, than should be, being the breed he is, but its there just the same, Took him to the vet. n he said he thought that maybe after servicing a cow, maybe it hit a stick, or a piece of wire, or something like that, said may have gotten grass seed, or something on it n it drew up in his sheath, he squeezed puss out of it, then gave some anti biotic, said it was the strongest thing that he had, 3 cc's. Gave the shot right in the abscess. I will take him back tomorrow for a check up, There is only one cow that has calved lately that he will have to service soon, He said it didn't look good, n may have to get rid of him, I hope to hear it will be fine, tomorrow, but have any of you ever encountered a problem like this, if so, how did it work out for you. n how did u treat it? He also told me to try to spray water on him 3 or 4 times a day if I had a place to do that, n I dont' have water anywhere near the catch pen, n if left alone in there he will tear the old catch pen down. Cause its old.
Thanks for the replies. tryinhard

 

[msscamp]

I can't say that we have ever encountered this problem. I believe I would A) Check the yellow pages, talk to friends and neighbors, and call around to see if a couple of other vets would be willing to consult as I would not have a lot of faith in the original vet considering what you posted. B) Treat the abcess/infection (squeezing pus out of this bulls sheath/penis would indicate an infection/abcess of some type) with systemic antibiotics - I'm just not sure which one to use. The usual protocol for abcesses is to drain them but, considering the location, that may not be possible. Perhaps Nuflor, Excenel, or Excede. I'm not sure Baytril will have much effect as it tends to be more for respiratory stuff as far as I'm aware. I'm also thinking that penicillin is going to be ineffective, due to the number of injections that would be required and the tendency for bulls to get nasty if they have to be ran through a chute for a number of days for treatment. C) Keep him away from any and all cows until he had completey healed up - why aggravate the current situation? I hope this helps.

PS I should have also added that you probably want to seriously consider whether you want to procede with treatment or cut your losses, sell this bull and find another one since, as Beefy already stated, this bull will be out of commission for quite a while in all likelihood.

 

[Beefy]

i think he will be out of commission for a while but thats just me speculating.

 

[3MR]

I dont know if I woudl sell him as is, you will probably take a big hit. I'd get him well first, even if I got another bull to carry on the family tradition, so to speak, in his stead. Whats a few months for a few hundred bucks.

Im not sure what I think of your vets diagnosis, but with the rudamentary at best, animal medical knowledge I have Im not going to question it.

Just my thoughts, nothing more, nothing less! :lol: :lol:

 

[msscamp]

I dont know if I woudl sell him as is, you will probably take a big hit. I'd get him well first, even if I got another bull to carry on the family tradition, so to speak, in his stead. Whats a few months for a few hundred bucks.

You have a good point on selling him 'as is', one I'm not going to argue with. I would, however, ask if you thought the 'few hundred bucks' would likely offset the cost to maintain him plus the bill for the antibiotics to get him healed up?

Im not sure what I think of your vets diagnosis, but with the rudamentary at best, animal medical knowledge I have Im not going to question it.

Just my thoughts, nothing more, nothing less! :lol: :lol:

Ok, I respect that, but I've got another question for you - how difficult is it to diagnose an abcess? For the average cattleman, diagnosing an abcess is no big deal, except for this particular area since it's a hit or miss kind of deal - not trying to be a smarty pants. :lol: :lol: At the risk of being indelicate - it seems to me that a vet has the means to diagnose an abcess, even in this area, if he/she is competent - I've been present for semen collection, testing, etc. It doesn't take that long to have a good view. Vicky, perhaps you would care to comment on this? Another area of concern for me was that the antibiotic was administered 'directly into the abcess', without any follow-up directions (at least, according to the original poster) now maybe our vets are different - but an abcess is usually a reaction from the body to foreign objects being introduced - would it not follow that treatment would be systemic? Perhaps this particular vet is looking to increase his coffers a little at the expense of his client? Just a thought. Another point of concern is the directions to hose this bull off - since bulls 'extend' so irregularly, how exactly is tryinhard supposed to do this? And what exactly is it going to accomplish, anyway? The first blast of cold water and that penis is going to be back in the sheath, you know that as well as I do. Comments?

 

[3MR]

All the stuff you said is why I wasnt going to comment on the vets diagnosis. I dont think much of it, but then Im not a vet, and like I said before I only have a very basic knowledge of animal health, more witchcraft and folk medicine than anything else. Pretty much you and everybody else on here has me hands down on that. :lol:

But then thats also why I dont think he should sell the animal right away. I agee that its not going to be that much use to him for a while, but I also dont think its as bad as it sounds and he should give it some time first.

 

[backhoeboogie]

My bull got into something. Cactus, mesquite thorns, or whatever. He swole up the size of a coffee can. It was pretty disheartening. At the time, he wasn't going to be needed for another 4 months or so. He was capable of relieving himself so I let him go. I couldn't see anything broken. I crossed my fingers!

A vet was out about 2 months later so I put him in the head chute and let the vet take a look, just in case something was wrong. The vet gave him a clean bill of health. Nothing damaged, nothing broken. It was a relief.

 

[mnmtranching]

I had a bull with a problem something like that. He was active with a herd of cows. When he serviced or o tried to service a cow he just made his situation worse. By the time I got himseparated he was in bad shape. He was bloody and swollen with infection, could'nt sell him so I used antibiotics. It was a lot of work and after the withdrawal time was able to sell him.

mnmt

 

[dj]

tryinhard hasn't made it back yet so...
maybe the instructions to hose the bull off were to hose the whole animal off in an attempt to lower body temps?

 

[randiliana]

we had a bull with a similar problem about 4 years ago. It was 2-3 weeks into breeding season, and fortunately we didn't need him after that. We brought him home and had the vet look at him, and while I can't remember the exact diagnosis, he gave him a dose of mastitis stuff (in the tube) directly into the sheath and I think also penicillin. We had to keep up the mastitis treatment for a few days, and also give him more penicillin. Then, since there was literally nowhere to sell him, we wintered him and had him tested again in the spring where he tested fine. We used him for 3 more years I think. But he was kept completely away from any cows for about 11 months.

 

[Beefy]

tryinhard hasn't made it back yet so...
maybe the instructions to hose the bull off were to hose the whole animal off in an attempt to lower body temps?

doubt it, usually when you are directed to hydo a male animal in the privates its to reduce swelling, like massaging the area. also helps anything that will drain to drain.

 

[Herefordcross]

Been there done that, never did get it resolved. Cleaned the medicine out of him and ate him.

 

[tryinhard]

Took him back to the vet today, he was n still is swollen, there. Doc said he was much better than he expected, n he thinks he will be ok, he also injected him with more of whatever it was, but there was very little puss in it today. And u know I need to take him back in about 3 weeks, but he thinks he will be fine. Maybe in 3 weeks I can stop writing checks to him for a while. Still don't know what caused it. I didn't ask why to hose him either since it wouldn't make any difference, cause not set up like that. Thanks for all of your thoughts, and replies. say a little prayer for me, and or the bull. It really makes one draw up bad to watch the injection in that area. Maybe it will be ok. Kinda scared though, we just had 2 late calves, n will have 2 more this week, not that I like them calving this time of year, but better now than not having any at all. I will let yall know what happens when it does. n Thanks again. tryinhard

 

[msscamp]

Kinda scared though, we just had 2 late calves, n will have 2 more this week, not that I like them calving this time of year, but better now than not having any at all. tryinhard

Ok, I guess I'm just dumb because I don't get it - if you don't like having them calve this time of year, why did you put the bull out when you did so they WOULD calve this time of year? :???: You control calving time by when you put the bull with them. :? What am I missing?

 

[tryinhard]

The reason is we have only had one pasture till about 1 month ago. We would like to have a rather short and only one calving season, but that's the way it has been for several years. The plan is to work into a short calving season, but I don't think it will happen right away, it's tough here, n most everywhere now without rain, no grass per say, nor hay, to say. We may not even have a cow or bull before winter is finished with us. Just tryin hard, and it don't always work like one needs it to. Just hoping n praying things will work out, We may go down, but we will have scars, ain't gonna just give up. I'm disabled, Have a son 20 yrs. old, a daughter 6yrs, old, which don't have but 24 head now. But thats a load for predominatly {my son},going to college. Just pray for us if you will. Thanks again tryinhard

 

[dj]

tryinhard hasn't made it back yet so...maybe the instructions to hose the bull off were to hose the whole animal off in an attempt to lower body temps?

doubt it, usually when you are directed to hydo a male animal in the privates its to reduce swelling, like massaging the area. also helps anything that will drain to drain.

Thanks Beefy would you want to flush also or just wash/hose the sheath? I can see why tryinhard was reluctant to to try this not having a chute.

 

[tryinhard]

We have a chute, catch pen n such, just no water near it.

 

[dun]

We have a chute, catch pen n such, just no water near it.

May not be a great solution, but before we had water near our chute I used a pump up sprayer with the nizzle set to a solid stream. Worked ok, but a battery powered pump one works better. Obviously a garden hose works best, but you try to get as close as you can to the total solution

dun

 

[Beefy]

tryinhard hasn't made it back yet so...maybe the instructions to hose the bull off were to hose the whole animal off in an attempt to lower body temps?

doubt it, usually when you are directed to hydo a male animal in the privates its to reduce swelling, like massaging the area. also helps anything that will drain to drain.

Thanks Beefy would you want to flush also or just wash/hose the sheath? I can see why tryinhard was reluctant to to try this not having a chute.

i would apply a steady stream (more pressure the better they say) directly to the abcess and then just enough to wash off anything that may have drained out.