Anaplasmosis

[Ky hills]

About 10 days ago, we ran all our cows through the chute, to vaccinate with triangle 10, and pour both wormer and fly pour on. A week later, had the vet out to palpate the spring calving cows.
Everything seemed fine.
At the time, we were concerned about a few of our younger cows that were thinner. We’ve been in a drought and I’ve eventually started feeding hay and feeding grain everyday and have put out several protein tubs, to try to help these cows keep or gain some condition through the drought.
Vet said he some cows in similar condition and said these were healthy acting so he said that was drought related and that their calves had been pulling them down.
We ran them through the chute on Thursday and Saturday night just before dark, I put out hay and noticed a cow off to herself and not looking good. It was one of the older maybe 7-8 year old cows. She had been in great shape, maybe too fat for some folks. I had noticed her in particular when working her because she is annoying and almost ran over me when trying to get her up into the alleyway in the barn. She looked and acted normal and fine those days as far as I could tell.
By two days later she looked like she’d lost 200 lbs and was sunk in in front of her hips. She moved closer to the other cows and hay but still a little away and laid down. I got her up and she walked very slow toward the hay but never ate.
It was getting dark. Sunday morning, she lagged behind, but came up with the others.
She ate, and seemed some better just by eating and then Monday we called our vet.
I was thinking maybe hardware, but wondering about anaplasmosis. Vet said hardware wouldn’t present that fast, and it was either Anaplasmosis or Blue tongue.
We are thinking it looks more like Anaplasmosis at this point. Vet said to giver her a big dose of LA 300. We drove her up. She was slow but went pretty good most of the way. Bottom of the hill right before up the hill to the barn she stopped and I liked to never got her walking again. Then she finally got within feet of the barn lot and laid down. Was probably 20 minutes before she got up and walked on in.
After treating her with la she tried to lay down in the chute, got out before she did.
She ate hay later in the night.
We are worried now that we may have more with it or that may have been infected from her from working.
We had planned to sell several cows next month and had been debating whether to keep some of our weaned calves till December to put in a special graded feeder calf sale. Should we sell the calves now or wait with them?

 

[Travlr]

About 10 days ago, we ran all our cows through the chute, to vaccinate with triangle 10, and pour both wormer and fly pour on. A week later, had the vet out to palpate the spring calving cows.
Everything seemed fine.
At the time, we were concerned about a few of our younger cows that were thinner. We’ve been in a drought and I’ve eventually started feeding hay and feeding grain everyday and have put out several protein tubs, to try to help these cows keep or gain some condition through the drought.
Vet said he some cows in similar condition and said these were healthy acting so he said that was drought related and that their calves had been pulling them down.
We ran them through the chute on Thursday and Saturday night just before dark, I put out hay and noticed a cow off to herself and not looking good. It was one of the older maybe 7-8 year old cows. She had been in great shape, maybe too fat for some folks. I had noticed her in particular when working her because she is annoying and almost ran over me when trying to get her up into the alleyway in the barn. She looked and acted normal and fine those days as far as I could tell.
By two days later she looked like she’d lost 200 lbs and was sunk in in front of her hips. She moved closer to the other cows and hay but still a little away and laid down. I got her up and she walked very slow toward the hay but never ate.
It was getting dark. Sunday morning, she lagged behind, but came up with the others.
She ate, and seemed some better just by eating and then Monday we called our vet.
I was thinking maybe hardware, but wondering about anaplasmosis. Vet said hardware wouldn’t present that fast, and it was either Anaplasmosis or Blue tongue.
We are thinking it looks more like Anaplasmosis at this point. Vet said to giver her a big dose of LA 300. We drove her up. She was slow but went pretty good most of the way. Bottom of the hill right before up the hill to the barn she stopped and I liked to never got her walking again. Then she finally got within feet of the barn lot and laid down. Was probably 20 minutes before she got up and walked on in.
After treating her with la she tried to lay down in the chute, got out before she did.
She ate hay later in the night.
We are worried now that we may have more with it or that may have been infected from her from working.
We had planned to sell several cows next month and had been debating whether to keep some of our weaned calves till December to put in a special graded feeder calf sale. Should we sell the calves now or wait with them?

I'd get a confirmed (blood test) diagnosis before selling anything. That may not be what you want to hear... but I would have a hard time selling sick animals. Treat and give them some time to get over it.

 

[Ky hills]

I'd get a confirmed diagnosis before selling anything. That may not be what you want to hear... but I would have a hard time selling sick animals. Treat and give them some time to get over it.

Cow seems to be some better, she’s ate her feed from last night and eating fresh feed this morning.
All we can do at this point is wait.
It’s definitely not what I want to hear, but like a lot of other things life throws curves been there before with other things.
At this point nothing else is presenting any symptoms at all other than the one cow that is now isolated.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Have Vet draw blood to confirm.

Had a horse with Lyme and Anaplasmosis and the treatment was doxycycline in powder form for something like 6 months.

 

[Ky hills]

Have Vet draw blood to confirm.

Had a horse with Lyme and Anaplasmosis and the treatment was doxycycline in powder form for something like 6 months.

We are working with a vet on it.

 

[wbvs58]

Back in my day thin blood smears from acute animals were what was required and could even be examined crush side with diff quick stain. Impression smears of the spleen on autopsy were also required.
It sounds like she is very anaemic wanting to lie down all the time when getting her in.

Ken

 

[TCRanch]

A blood test will show the results in a matter of minutes. In the meantime, check her gums and vulva. They should be nice and pink, not white or jaundice. Anaplas can be successfully treated with LA or Baytril 100 CA1 if caught early. They may recover but will always be a carrier.

Something else to look for is their gait. I had a cow that was walking funny but couldn't figure out what was wrong and no signs of foot rot or abscess in any of her feet. Anaplas is neurological and can affect how they walk. That cow was successfully treated but I sold her at weaning (long after the withdrawal period).

 

[BFE]

I’ve never heard of one with anaplasmosis that didn’t get aggressive, but I’m no expert.

Been three or four injuries in my general area due to it recently, the closest an 89 year old neighbor who had to have ankle surgery due to the old biddy. She also beat up his son’s truck when they went to take care of her, they gave her the lead treatment.

 

[Ky hills]

I’ve never heard of one with anaplasmosis that didn’t get aggressive, but I’m no expert.

Been three or four injuries in my general area due to it recently, the closest an 89 year old neighbor who had to have ankle surgery due to the old biddy. She also beat up his son’s truck when they went to take care of her, they gave her the lead treatment.

Yeah, I’ve always heard that too. Had a friend in another county that had a cow with it a few years ago and she was aggressive.
Our vet has been out of town and haven’t gotten a chance to get him out to see the cow, so not sure what is really going on.
We’ve treated her with 2 rounds of LA 300. She doesn’t seem aggressive at all, except she gets defensive once caught in the chute, but as soon as she’s released she’s fine disposition wise. She’s eating.
We panicked at first, but seems like everything else is doing ok.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Is the aggressiveness only a thing with cattle and anaplasmosis? Never heard of that before.

My gelding had it like 13 years ago and was never once agressive. Lived out his days til 29yo before we buried him.

 

[texoman]

A blood test will show the results in a matter of minutes. In the meantime, check her gums and vulva. They should be nice and pink, not white or jaundice. Anaplas can be successfully treated with LA or Baytril 100 CA1 if caught early. They may recover but will always be a carrier.

Something else to look for is their gait. I had a cow that was walking funny but couldn't figure out what was wrong and no signs of foot rot or abscess in any of her feet. Anaplas is neurological and can affect how they walk. That cow was successfully treated but I sold her at weaning (long after the withdrawal period).

Is that blood test over the counter?

I just had a cow die last week. She was fine at the last check, but three days later she had decomposed far enough to not get samples so the vet couldn’t confirm if it was anaplasmosis. He did say it was likely the cause though. I gave the vet 8 blood samples from the cows which he sent off for serum analysis. Two of the 8 were positive. I plan on testing everyone so that quick test would be nice.

One of the positive animals shows no symptoms at all. The other has had a funny gait for a while. No foot problems. No nothing. She is a great cow otherwise. I wonder if this is the case.

I treated both with la300, and the vet put in for medicated ctc mineral. Neither are aggressive at all.

 

[BFE]

Check their skin in their ears, lips,eyelids. It will turn yellow or even bright orange. I posted a picture on here years ago, I’ll see if I can find the thread.

 

[BFE]

 

[TCRanch]

Is that blood test over the counter?

I just had a cow die last week. She was fine at the last check, but three days later she had decomposed far enough to not get samples so the vet couldn’t confirm if it was anaplasmosis. He did say it was likely the cause though. I gave the vet 8 blood samples from the cows which he sent off for serum analysis. Two of the 8 were positive. I plan on testing everyone so that quick test would be nice.

One of the positive animals shows no symptoms at all. The other has had a funny gait for a while. No foot problems. No nothing. She is a great cow otherwise. I wonder if this is the case.

I treated both with la300, and the vet put in for medicated ctc mineral. Neither are aggressive at all.

I've only had a vet do the blood test. Plus, I get an answer within minutes.

It's not uncommon for one to test positive and be asymptomatic. And one that has been treat will be test seropositive. I've never had one become aggressive but most likely due to catching it early.

I'll see if I can find the video I took of my cow with the weird gait.

Edit: found the videos (I took 4) and none of them will play anymore. Old phone, new laptop? I have no clue why. Anyway, she was walking with her head down, weight was uneven on her feet, almost looked like she was drunk. But otherwise acting fine even though she had separated herself and her calf from the herd. She wasn't drooling, which is common, and still had a great appetite. I don't remember if the vet said she had a temp.

 

[TCRanch]

Timely article in the Angus Beef Bulletin:

https://www.angus.org/angus-media/a... considerations&utm_campaign=0925ABBXA (Copy)

 

[Ky hills]

Update: From the initial time we got her up. and treated her she seemed stronger the next day but still weak and slow. She never quit eating but was just slow about everything. Four days later we treated with a second round of LA 300 per vet recommendation. After a few more days she started to show slight improvement each day and was already filling back out from where she had lost so much weight in a short time.
About 3-4 days ago, I saw her chewing her cud and she really gets excited at feeding time. Her appetite is back in full swing. She looks almost back to normal by now condition wise.
Vet said it was most likely blue tongue and we caught it early.
We’ve had and still have the cow isolated.
No other animals have shown any symptoms.
Here she is when we first recognized a problem on September 27, then again today.

 

[aprille218]

There is a snap rapid test for Anaplasmosis in dogs ( Heartworm 4dx). Maybe it would work for cows too? Ask your vet I guess.

 

[Ky hills]

There is a snap rapid test for Anaplasmosis in dogs ( Heartworm 4dx). Maybe it would work for cows too? Ask your vet I guess.

Thank you. Initially vet said Anaplasmosis or blue tongue by description. at this time vet doesn’t believe it’s Anaplasmosis, he believes it’s blue tongue.

 

[TCRanch]

I'm not familiar with Blue Tongue. Fortunately. But I'm going to a producers meeting Thursday evening and one of the topics is anaplas. If I think of it, I'll ask one of the vets the difference and see if they describe the symptoms as similar.

Huge improvement in your cow!

 

[Ky hills]

I'm not familiar with Blue Tongue. Fortunately. But I'm going to a producers meeting Thursday evening and one of the topics is anaplas. If I think of it, I'll ask one of the vets the difference and see if they describe the symptoms as similar.

Huge improvement in your cow!

That would be good. I originally posted about the possibility of Anaplasmosis or blue tongue, to be a caution for others to watch out for symptoms as this cow went downhill so fast.
Anaplasmosis has been around here for a while.
Blue tongue, as far as I know is relatively new around here. From what I understand the same insects something called a biting midge that can carry the hemorrhagic disease in deer is also capable of carrying the virus that causes blue tongue in cattle.
It seems that deer disease is here and apparently so is blue tongue in cattle as our vet says he has seen cases of it here, and he apparently thought that is what the cow had from the start, but said at the time that Anaplasmosis could have also been a possibility too.
I did an AI overview google search by asking if Anaplasmosis and blue tongue in cattle had similar symptoms and this is the overview that it gave me.

s, anaplasmosis and bluetongue can have similar symptoms in cattle
, such as fever, weakness, and abortions. However, the core pathology of each disease leads to distinct key clinical signs that a veterinarian can use to differentiate between them.
Similar symptoms in cattle
The overlap in symptoms is why it is critical to confirm a diagnosis with laboratory testing.

• Fever: Both diseases can cause a high temperature.
• Weakness and lethargy: Affected cattle will appear listless and have a reluctance to move.
• Weight loss and decreased appetite:Animals may stop eating and rapidly lose condition.
• Increased respiratory rate: Both can cause labored or rapid breathing.
• Abortions: Pregnant cows can abort their calves in severe cases of either disease.

Key differences in symptoms


[th]
Symptom

[/th][th]
Anaplasmosis

[/th][th]
Bluetongue

[/th]
[td]Pathology[/td][td]The Anaplasmabacterium invades red blood cells, leading to severe anemia as the body destroys the infected cells.[/td][td]The Bluetongue virus damages blood vessels, resulting in hemorrhages, tissue swelling, and ulcers.[/td][td]Mucous Membranes[/td][td]Pale mucous membranes (gums, inside eyelids) are a hallmark of anemia. These membranes may later turn yellow (jaundice) as red blood cells are destroyed.[/td][td]Can appear reddish and swollen with ulcers and erosions, especially around the mouth, nose, and eyes.[/td][td]Urine[/td][td]The urine is typically not blood-colored. This is a key finding that helps distinguish it from other diseases.[/td][td]Does not characteristically affect the urine.[/td][td]Swelling[/td][td]Swelling is not a common clinical sign.[/td][td]Prominent swelling of the face, muzzle, lips, and tongue is a key feature.[/td][td]Aggression[/td][td]Due to oxygen deprivation from severe anemia, cattle can become extremely aggressive and over-excited, especially when stressed.[/td][td]This symptom is not typical.[/td][td]Lameness[/td][td]Lameness is not a characteristic sign.[/td][td]Lameness is common and can be caused by inflammation of the hooves and muscle stiffness.[/td][td]Age Susceptibility[/td][td]Older cattle (over 2 years) show the most severe and often fatal symptoms. Calves under a year old are typically subclinical.[/td][td]Clinical signs are generally less common and less severe in cattle than in sheep, but the outcome is highly dependent on the virus strain.[/td]

Diagnosis and confirmation
Because of the overlapping symptoms, a definitive diagnosis requires a veterinarian and laboratory testing.

• For anaplasmosis, blood smears can be examined under a microscope to find the bacteria inside red blood cells, especially in the early stages of the disease. In the later stages, blood tests (like ELISA or PCR) can detect antibodies or DNA.
• For bluetongue, diagnosis is confirmed through virus isolation or by detecting rising antibody levels in blood tests.