Anti-plas problem

[rjk]

Noticed bull hanging away from herd, and acting tired, so hauled to vet. He checked blood and treated for anti-plas. Said bull would probably be ok, but to watch closely.

Started feeding aueromicycin, (spelling??), or whatever name the feed store had. The horseflys have been bad, and I guess they carry the problem. Rest of herd looked ok, but vet said to watch them and if any problem, need to treat right away. Bought fly control with the same chemical for anti-plas, and will put out tomorrow.

If anyone has any suggestions, or other treatments I would appreciate hearing about them. Also, vet said bull wouldn't be fertile for awhile, but forgot to ask how long. Hopefully, it will be a short term problem, just have a late calver needing bred.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Rick

 

[KNERSIE]

Anaplasmosis is a very common disease here and is tick borne. I am sure there are other vectors that also carry the disease, but here its the Blue tick.

Its a good thing you reacted the way you did, otherwise you would most likely have lost him. Without a blood smear its nearly impossible to distinguish between redwater (babesiosis) and anaplasmosis so I use a treatment that kills both organisms in the blood.

I use Imisol or Imidox. Oxytetracycline and Tetracyclines are very effective against anaplasmosis, but the recovery usually is slow. When giving a oxytetracycline always start by giving a short acting one to get the levels in the blood higher sooner, I usually inject a long acting one the next day.

An anti-inflammatory like Phenyl- arthrite in combination with Phosamine will speed the healing process up considerately. It will also help with apetite, an animal who had anaplasmosis typically lack apetite for quite some time afterwards.

Another consideration is that constipation or compaction can be a real problem associated with anaplasmosis, so be sure he isn't only getting dry hay and if the feed is very mature supplementing him with a little molasses or any other mild laxative might be cheap insurance.

After the high fever that is usually associated with anaplasmosis it is very likley that he will suffer temporary infertility, but it won't be for longer than 3 months.

 

[kyblockhead]

A loose mineral w/ CTC (aureomycin) must be consumed to provide 350 mg/head/day to provide an adequate dose to help with anaplasmosis. This translates that the CTC mineral should have 1400 mg/lb (2800 g/ton) if consumed at 4 oz/head/day or 2800 mg/lb (5600 g/ton) if consumed at 2 oz/head/day. Monitor intake to be sure they are eating enough. I would strongly consider culling infected animals due to very possible spread to other animals. Just my opinion on the last part. FDA's opinion on the first part.

 

[DavisBeefmasters]

We vaccinate all calves with a modified live virus for anaplasmosis -- "Anavac", but it can only be given to animals less than 11 months old, a one time vaccination good to build their immune system... the vet orders it up and fills out paperwork with the local USDA vet office to administer it.

For the animals above 11 months in age (that we didn't have on this property as calves) get a vaccination yearly which is a killed vaccine... whose name escapes me at the moment but it is produced by the California Wool Growers...

Good catch on the bull, you could have lost him completely.

 

[rjk]

Thanks for the information, the bull is doing good. Will take him and some cows back to farm this weekend. Only issue is if he isn't fertile for awhile, but should have most of herd bred by now. Haven't noticed any cows or calves with symptons, and put aeromycian?? mineral out and pellets in feed. Will continue to watch for signs. Have only had a few calves out of him, and have been pleased with results, this year, he was the the only bull, and I hope to see the same quality or better. Maybe I learned enough to prevent this from being a problem in the future. Thanks again for the info.