I had a 6 month old steer show up limping badly last Wednesday. I got him in the shute and checked out his hoof. No obvious injury, cuts,nail,wire or broken hoof. I cleaned the hoof and between the toes.It is swollen at the ankle and very sore. He is eating and drinking good and seems to feel fine except for the sore hoof. It happened in 1 day. He was fine in the morning and limping that evening. I gave him a shot of LA200 and applied povidone iodine solution. It didn't seem to help. I got the vet to check it out. He didn't find anything either. He gave him a shot of Batryl and banamine. He's still limping pretty bad. Do you think it could be some kind of trauma, kicked, stepped on or something? Any advice? I want to do whatever I can to get him fixed up. If its an injury of some sort(tindon or something) how long should it be until I see improvement?
Bad wheel
- Thread starter ctlbaron
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Nowland Farms
Well-known member
About a month ago I noticed one of my cows limping on her front right foot. I did not find anything so I just watched it for a fews days and it cleard up. I assume she just stepped in a hole, was kicked or something since it cleard up. She is fine now.
ctlbaron":3gnmhd4x said:
Possibilitiesare endless:
Rot not yet surfaced?
Sprain?
Broken bone?
And so on
Traditionally when we get any type of infection we doctor and see results within a few days. Generally it is simply Oxy LA as per label instructions and all is well.
Longer indicates one of two things - injury or severe infection.
As the veterinarian has been there - Kudus by the way - nice to see someone actually consulted with one before asking us "invisibles" for advice - I would suggest that you will likely continue treating as per his thoughts and then keep the animal quiet and fed.
It may be another week or two before you see results - or it may be tomorrow.
Best of luck,
Bez!
Picture? calf putting any weight on the leg or not?
I've seen footrot show up in a day. And it can get bad really, really fast if not treated. It's said every day it's not treated means a much longer recovery time. Picked up a cow off the dead animal pile (well, not quite) due to a severe case of footrot last winter ('04). Took a good five months before she was sound.
Treated two of boss's cows for footrot last month; started as just swelling between the top of the hoof (on a horse I'd call it the coranary band) and fetlock joint, nothing else, but I've seen it before and knew what I was dealing with. One cow went from perfectly normal one morning, to swollen and seriously limping by the next morning. Loaded her up with oxytet and she was good within 48 hours, sound, and swelling gone. Other cow was a springer that didn't get treated for a few days, I gave that animal 80cc's and it still took 4-7 days before the swelling went away and she was sound again.
How big is the calf? how much oxytet did you treat him with?
I checked the label on Baytril, and I don't find any indication it is labeled for anything other than respiratory. So I'd go back to the oxytet; as far as I can tell Baytril isn't going to do anything for that calf.
I've seen footrot show up in a day. And it can get bad really, really fast if not treated. It's said every day it's not treated means a much longer recovery time. Picked up a cow off the dead animal pile (well, not quite) due to a severe case of footrot last winter ('04). Took a good five months before she was sound.
Treated two of boss's cows for footrot last month; started as just swelling between the top of the hoof (on a horse I'd call it the coranary band) and fetlock joint, nothing else, but I've seen it before and knew what I was dealing with. One cow went from perfectly normal one morning, to swollen and seriously limping by the next morning. Loaded her up with oxytet and she was good within 48 hours, sound, and swelling gone. Other cow was a springer that didn't get treated for a few days, I gave that animal 80cc's and it still took 4-7 days before the swelling went away and she was sound again.
How big is the calf? how much oxytet did you treat him with?
I checked the label on Baytril, and I don't find any indication it is labeled for anything other than respiratory. So I'd go back to the oxytet; as far as I can tell Baytril isn't going to do anything for that calf.
ctlbaron
Well-known member
Thanks Milkmaid. He's a little under 500lb I would guess. He is putting more weight on it than he was. He only put the tip of the toes down for a couple of days but he is using the bottom of the hoof now. I was kinda thinking along your lines as to the Baytril. I understand the Banamine but wondered about Baytril. We will resume the LA200. Personally I think he has sprained it some how. There was a little heat in the swollen ankle but it has cooled now. I'm checking the hoof closely everyday and it seems fine. I went so far as to put another one in the shute and check his hooves just to be sure there wasn't any noticable difference in the two. None. Maybe he will come around in a few days. Thanks for the replys.
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
baron
Sounds like your headed inthe right direction. If it were mine I would watch closely and give 2-3 week to improve. Another shot of banamine (anti-inflamitory & pain relief) could help. As long the situation does not deteriorate, time is probably your best friend. If it is an infection the meds you gave should do the job. If it is an injury, probably will heal over time. Sprains sometimes take a month or longer. JMO
Regards
Brock
Sounds like your headed inthe right direction. If it were mine I would watch closely and give 2-3 week to improve. Another shot of banamine (anti-inflamitory & pain relief) could help. As long the situation does not deteriorate, time is probably your best friend. If it is an infection the meds you gave should do the job. If it is an injury, probably will heal over time. Sprains sometimes take a month or longer. JMO
Regards
Brock
SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE
Well-known member
I had a cow that was limping a couple of years ago,that seemed to have a sore foot.I had the vet out for something else and he checked her hoof,did not find anything but went ahead and gave her a shot of nuflor just for good measure.She recovered a few days after that and you could not tell anything had been wrong. ;-) :cboy:
go-pokes-osu
Member
I'm sure baytril probably will do some good, it's a broad spectrum antibiotic, but use of baytril for anything other than respiratory disease is prohibited by law. Nuflor works well for footrot.
go-pokes-osu":2s8pix7g said:
I didn't know that. Interesting -and thanks. I was aware it is not allowed to be used on replacement dairy heifers, and must not be found in a dairy farm drug cabinet. That's the extent of my knowledge on when Baytril is prohibited. :lol:
Jeanne - Simme Valley
Well-known member
Plain old aspirin might be in order.
I believe Dun said once... 12 asprins for a mature cow. So maybe 5 or 6 for a half-grown calf? Run a search just to check, though. ;-) As far as administration, it would be easiest to top-dress on grain if possible.
If you can do it IV, banamine should be even better for pain.
If you can do it IV, banamine should be even better for pain.
Here's a saga concerning a bad wheel.
Had one cow, the grandkids pet and my favorite, got footrot during breeding season. Gave her LA200, cleared up then came back a month later. Hit her again with LA200, same thing. Gave her Excenel, same thing. In October the foot rot ruptured just above the split in the front. Hit her with a whopping big dose of Excenel. The vet said he would be surprised if she got better because the infection was probably in the joint capsule (or something like that). She did get better though, until a couple of weeks ago. Problem came back, hit her with Excenel and there wasn;t any improvment. She went out as a kill cow on monday. Haven;t had the nerve to tell the grankids yet
dun
Had one cow, the grandkids pet and my favorite, got footrot during breeding season. Gave her LA200, cleared up then came back a month later. Hit her again with LA200, same thing. Gave her Excenel, same thing. In October the foot rot ruptured just above the split in the front. Hit her with a whopping big dose of Excenel. The vet said he would be surprised if she got better because the infection was probably in the joint capsule (or something like that). She did get better though, until a couple of weeks ago. Problem came back, hit her with Excenel and there wasn;t any improvment. She went out as a kill cow on monday. Haven;t had the nerve to tell the grankids yet
dun
A
Anonymous
Nuflor knocks foot rot out in just two shots. Like the stuff. ;-)
buckaroo_bif
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Baron if it swollen in the ankle and you don't see a noticeable problem with the foot do you think it's possible it could be a mycoplasma problem? I have seen several cases of calves limping and stiff not necessarily in the foot but more in the hock or ankle. Treated em and they are fine in a few days.
bif
bif
it sounds like the footrot we get. symptoms, severe limp comes up over night, animal only puts toe down, the BACK of the foot is swollen. LA200 has worked so far... may take 3 or so shots though. no visible injury. if not that i'd lean toward bruising from stepping on a rock or stump or something.
ctlbaron
Well-known member
There was a noticable improvement in the calf yesterday. He's moving much better. Still has a pretty good limp but he's putting more weight on it and putting steps together much faster. I left the shed door open to the outside pen yesterday. I found some flop out there so I know he went out in the sunshine and walked around for a while. I think he will be ok. Thanks for the advice all.
CKC1586
Well-known member
One of my brother's bulls had a limp last summer and after finally getting the vet out and getting the bottom of the foot cleaned out (not an easy task, he is 2200lb) it was just as beefy said a pebble had somehow worked its way into the hoof causing sort of an abcess. They cut away a bunch and medicated him with antibiotics (can't remember what kind) and after a week he was good to go.
ctlbaron
Well-known member
I want to update you on the progress of this steer. Little progress has been made. He is getting around better but not well by any means. I decided to get him back up for another close inspection yesterday. While I was driving him to the chute I noticed a damp spot on the back of his ankle or heel. I shaved the spot down and found an abcess. It was not noticable until yesterday. I scraped on it and it opened up. It started oozing the nasty smelly junk that is expected in an infected place. I got the county agent to come over and look at it. He thought we ought to lance it and let it drain. We did. Much bad stuff released instantly. We cleaned it, treated it with iodine and applied a antibiotic cream and gave him a dose of pen 48. I am going to give him a tetnis shot this evening. (I can't spell tet??) Do you think pennicillin is the right choice? I didn't get much help from LA 200, Baytril or Nuflor. They are all good for their own thing but I don't think I was using the right med for the problem he had. If I had started out with Pennicillin he may have improved by now.
