Another sick cow

[randiliana]

We have a sick cow. She is not a "high speed" or exceptionally "perky" animal, but even for her she seemed off. Before today the only symptoms were droopy ears and the fact that she doesn't seem to be able to lift her tail. She is a 9 year old simm x angus. She has been like this for at least a month. Her coat is shiny and she has not lost weight and she does not drag her feet although she moves veeerrry slowly. Today we noticed that she is swollen under the jaw. It is fluid filled, not hard, and doesn't seem painful. It also looks like her lymph nodes are swollen. She has been wormed with Ivomec injectible. She did not come up for grain this morning, but she has been moving around the pen they are in (a couple acres). She is on good alfalfa/grass hay, and she has been drinking. I am thinking that her pregnancy has been hard on her (in response to the slowness) perhaps due to twins or a large calf. As for the lump, we gave her a shot of penicillin, and some vitamin ADE (since we didn't give them a shot earlier this winter). If she doesn't appear to improve over the weekend we will call the vet and see what he says, I don't think it is life or death, and if it is we only hope to keep her going until she calves. If we can't well, she is a $75 BSE cow, and we won't be spending a bunch of money on her.

 

[cowcrazy07]

Could be lumpy jaw, or swollen lymph. Take her temp anything above 101.5 if you have not stressed her getting her in the pens indicates a infection. If she has a fever keep a eye out for dehydration-especially since she is bred. You are already following the correct treatment. If the swelling persist you might try banamine (anti-inflammatory) -may need a vet script for it. Good luck.

 

[GMN]

We have a sick cow. She is not a "high speed" or exceptionally "perky" animal, but even for her she seemed off. Before today the only symptoms were droopy ears and the fact that she doesn't seem to be able to lift her tail. She is a 9 year old simm x angus. She has been like this for at least a month. Her coat is shiny and she has not lost weight and she does not drag her feet although she moves veeerrry slowly. Today we noticed that she is swollen under the jaw. It is fluid filled, not hard, and doesn't seem painful. It also looks like her lymph nodes are swollen. She has been wormed with Ivomec injectible. She did not come up for grain this morning, but she has been moving around the pen they are in (a couple acres). She is on good alfalfa/grass hay, and she has been drinking. I am thinking that her pregnancy has been hard on her (in response to the slowness) perhaps due to twins or a large calf. As for the lump, we gave her a shot of penicillin, and some vitamin ADE (since we didn't give them a shot earlier this winter). If she doesn't appear to improve over the weekend we will call the vet and see what he says, I don't think it is life or death, and if it is we only hope to keep her going until she calves. If we can't well, she is a $75 BSE cow, and we won't be spending a bunch of money on her.

Let me know what you find out if the Vet comes, sounds just like my cow that isn't well.

Gail

 

[randiliana]

An update on this cow.

Today she finally came up for her grain. She looks better, and the swelling under her jaw has gone down. However, now her brisket is swollen up, and it looks hard. I don't know if it is since we didn't get her into the chute to feel it. It is shaped like a triangle. Anyways, we will give the vet a call sometime today, to see what he has to say.

 

[skcatlman]

Check with a vet,as i am not one but i have seen something like this with the swelling in the brisket but it was the entire brisket swollen but not really hard it was fluid build up it was chronic heart failure.

 

[randiliana]

Check with a vet,as i am not one but i have seen something like this with the swelling in the brisket but it was the entire brisket swollen but not really hard it was fluid build up it was chronic heart failure.

Yep, that is exactly what he said. Nothing we can do for her other than keep her comfortable. We are hoping she will make it to calving. As long as she is eating, drinking and getting around we will leave her alone. She is probably a month or more away from calving so we will see how she manages.

 

[skcatlman]

well you work with enough cattle and you see almost everything. I have worked in almost every facet of the cattle industry. And have seen alot because of it. No substitute fro experience.If you can put her in a small pen where she doesn't have to move alot for feed and water it would be best. As long as she doesn't exert herself she will probably make it to term with the calf. But that will be the crucial time if she can make it thru calving without her heart giving out. If she does i would think it would be best to try to cross foster the calf to another healthy cow that calves at the same time.

 

[randiliana]

well you work with enough cattle and you see almost everything. I have worked in almost every facet of the cattle industry. And have seen alot because of it. No substitute fro experience.If you can put her in a small pen where she doesn't have to move alot for feed and water it would be best. As long as she doesn't exert herself she will probably make it to term with the calf. But that will be the crucial time if she can make it thru calving without her heart giving out. If she does i would think it would be best to try to cross foster the calf to another healthy cow that calves at the same time.

She is in a small pen, and once we get a few calves she will be going into the corral. As it is right now she doesn't have to walk that far anyways. We will be watching her pretty close when she starts to show, and I would imagine that we will have to assist her. As it is the vet figured she either will have a real small weak calf, or possibly a pretty big one (which could be the reason she has gone down hill all of a sudden) The plan is to steal the calf when it is born and hopefully be able to foster it. If not, we will either bottle it until we need it, put it on the milk cow, or sell it depending on when exactly she does calve.

 

[randiliana]

Incidentally we had a cow with congestive heart failure last summer. She did OK, until the summer heated up and then she really went down hill. She didn't retain water, but she was constantly panting, and hiding in the shade. We put her down when she really started going downhill. Her calf adopted itself onto one of the holstiens, and we kept it. She has done well enough this winter. A bit smaller than the other calves, but I think still breedable. Here mama was a darn good cow.

 

[Gunn]

Hope she gets straightened out for you. Seems like its something all the time, I've lost several over the years from that lump under the jaw. Once it starts swelling, its not long till they start falling off in wait, then death nomatter what I did. Haven't had a case in a while, knock on wood. Good luck with her.

 

[randiliana]

As another update, I pulled a dead naked calf out of her last night. Probably weighed about 20 lbs. So most likely 2 months premature. I think her heart gave out and couldn't supply the calf with enough blood to stay alive. So she aborted. This is the end for the cow. We will be putting her down today.

 

[donnaIL]

sorry it didn't work out for you, sounds like a real bummer. donna

 

[randiliana]

sorry it didn't work out for you, sounds like a real bummer. donna

Ahhh, it was kind of what we expected. We knew she was quite aways from calving, so it was a longshot. Actually we figured she would end up dying on us before she calved. Besides with 170 head you have to expect some problems. But, short of something surprising, I am expecting a pretty good calving season. Everyone else is in pretty good shape so there should be no major problems.

 

[gendronf]

Besides with 170 head you have to expect some problems.

You are right. They say that we should expect around 2 % (if we are lucky) lost a year. For you Randi it's 4 cows a year, it's one every 3 month. The statistic are there and probably like you, me, and every one else, we never get use to.
Keep on posting, your knowledge is valuable for a lot of us.
Marcel

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Hope she gets straightened out for you. Seems like its something all the time, I've lost several over the years from that lump under the jaw. Once it starts swelling, its not long till they start falling off in wait, then death nomatter what I did. Haven't had a case in a while, knock on wood. Good luck with her.

Swelling under the jaw is also one of the signs of Johnes Disease - along with rapid weight loss, but good appetite.
It is also a sign of worms.

randiliana - As I read your post, heart failure is what I thought of. We had a cow that did that & she keeled over prior to calving.
Did you destroy her or ship her?

 

[randiliana]

Hope she gets straightened out for you. Seems like its something all the time, I've lost several over the years from that lump under the jaw. Once it starts swelling, its not long till they start falling off in wait, then death nomatter what I did. Haven't had a case in a while, knock on wood. Good luck with her.

Swelling under the jaw is also one of the signs of Johnes Disease - along with rapid weight loss, but good appetite.
It is also a sign of worms.

randiliana - As I read your post, heart failure is what I thought of. We had a cow that did that & she keeled over prior to calving.
Did you destroy her or ship her?

We destroyed her. Cull cows are not worth much here, and any cow that is not in perfect condition gets docked severely. We wouldn't have gotten $100 for her. Might not have even gotten enough to pay for the commission or other sale charges. Cheaper to feed the coyotes.