Animic Cow

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dawnrogerl

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I have a 5 year old cow that is 3 months preg. She has acted sluggish for the last couple of months. Otherwise she does not seem to be sick. Eats well, drinking plenty of water and wet nose. I would say that her body condition is about a 6. She just hangs around the barn, hay rack etc. and does not graze with the other cattle like she used to. I called the vet and he said that his bet is that she is anemic. He said that he is seeing preg. cows that have a parasite that makes them anemic. Pour-on does not help in this situation. He said that if this is the case, I have two choices. #1 to give her daily shots of 50cc LA-200 for about 2 weeks. #2 give her Aureomycin in her minerals. I have found a supply for Aureomycin 4G to be put in the feed. Is this the right stuff? I need to get this situation under control as I am afraid that it will affect her calf. What is your experience with this?
 
I don;t understand why antibiotics would help anemia. If pour on wormer doesn;t work, how about injectable. Even better, how about getting a stool sample analyzed?
 
dun":3mz4tgfq said:
I don;t understand why antibiotics would help anemia.
I was wondering that same thing. Googled Aureomycin 4G wondering if I was missing something, and it still does not make sense to me.....

Also wondering ~ did you have her preg checked to confirm she is bred? If it is a parasite, it seems odd it is only affecting one cow.
 
Sounds like an iron shot would be more reasonable . I have to wonder about the diagnosis and the treatment .

Larry
 
Hey, Larry,

I am going to take a blood sample on Monday and drive it to his clinic on Tues. Again, if she is anemic I want a strong plan of action. Please keep relaying experences like this one that might give me some knowledge. Thanks
 
Well, for starters I'd strongly suggest you call your vet on Monday and ask him for some more detailed information so you actually know what he's diagnosing. Hard for us to say if it's a good or bad treatment plan when we have no idea what he thinks is wrong with the cow. For that matter, when you know what he's talking about, you can Google it yourself and find out what the prognosis and treatment is for whatever your cow might have. The diagnosis, treatment plan and cow history sound familiar to me, but I can't put my finger on it yet. I'll let you know if/when I remember. :p

I'd also suggest taking the blood sample to the clinic the same day and/or talking to your vet first before drawing blood. He'll probably have to run a complete blood count and blood profile on the sample you bring in, and it'd have to be fresh and not coagulated for him to do that.
 
you may want to try giving her a shot of Selenium maybe coupled with Vitamins A and D... whenever we have a calf that is born and sluggish, it's stunning to see what the Selenium can do for them... IE, from being limp rags to standing in 15 minutes after the shot... some geographical areas are low in Selenium and you have more trouble than others, also, there are salt blocks which contain far more trace minerals, etc than others, and that may be a good preventative solution once you find out what is ailing her now
 
MM is right, it is important to get the sample in the day it is taken. Also might want to bring in that stool sample so long as you are going ~ it does not cost much extra and can rule out or in several factors including maybe bleeding internally (no reason to believe that this is the case unless of course anemia is what is wrong with her), and specific parasites issues. Larry is right though ~ If it is anemia, iron is what she really needs.
 
angie":87tup15y said:
MM is right, it is important to get the sample in the day it is taken. Also might want to bring in that stool sample so long as you are going ~ it does not cost much extra and can rule out or in several factors including maybe bleeding internally (no reason to believe that this is the case unless of course anemia is what is wrong with her), and specific parasites issues. Larry is right though ~ If it is anemia, iron is what she really needs.

Maybe a bottle of Geritol
 
dun":1hkfhqqo said:
I don;t understand why antibiotics would help anemia. If pour on wormer doesn;t work, how about injectable. Even better, how about getting a stool sample analyzed?

It would help only if it was caused by tick borne gallsickness, a condition that I seriously doubt you get in North Carolina. Even then the usual treatment in to use a shortacting oxytetracycline on day 1 and follow up with long acting oxytetracycline on day 2 and repeat every 72 hours.

Vit B complex and an anti -inflamatory would be my treatment of choice.
 
I would start with a new vet. He cannot diagnose over the telephone. I never herd of one that would. They may say it sounds like something but they will have to see the animal to know for sure. Did he tell you what to look for to see if the cow was anemic?
So given the above I would trailer the cow to the vet.
When cattle are anemic because of parasites it is usually accompanied with diarrhea.
Here is a good site. http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/ ... b1742.html
 
milkmaid":2ky6al4f said:
I'd also suggest taking the blood sample to the clinic the same day and/or talking to your vet first before drawing blood. He'll probably have to run a complete blood count and blood profile on the sample you bring in, and it'd have to be fresh and not coagulated for him to do that.

He won't be able to test for anemia appropriately if you don't have the right tubes right there. If you want to add to his new ulcer bring him a syringeful of blood still in the syringe. If you have them, fabulous; if not please get them before drawing the blood. These tests may tell you something.
 
Thanks Guys and Gals !!!! I will talk with the vet in the morning. I have vacuum sealed tubes that are for the specific uses of shipping blood samples. I use them for Preg. test. I also agree that it would be a good idea to take in a stool sample. Will let you all know what he says.
 
I took blood and stool samples to the vet clinic today. They said they would call me tomorrow. Sooooooo, I'll let you all know when I know something. Thanks
 
Got a call from the vet's office yesterday and they said that the cows red blood cell count was a little low and they were sending samples out to another lab for more testing. They said that it would take 7-10 days for the results. We spent the day today weighing and vaccinating the herd. Lucky she is in great body condition and has gained 92 lbs. in the last 54 days on hay. So we will keep doing what we are doing and wait for the test results and go from there. Again thanks to all !!!!
 

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