blunt force trauma

[daniel.carver]

hi, i've got a cow that was horned by the neughbors only horned cow. we work together by sharing the hay crop and running the cows together on each others property. its worked out well so far. anyway i have read on the q&a board about this. the cow has a softball size lump on the right side on the rib cage. I researched how to lance this, but then chickened out and called the vet. he came out and told me what it was and that it needed to be lanced. I watched to see this done by a proffesional. He deadened the area and cut into it, then he took a pair of scissors and stuck up into the area and cut all over the place. Then pushed and squzzzed out the blood and clear liquid. This is my question--he did not give an antibiotic shot. should'nt he have done this? He was there 25 min, and charged me 100.00. the next day the lump was as big as ever. I am treating the area daily w/screw worm fly spray.

 

[JMichal]

I believe he should have gave an antibiotic shot. I am not a vet, but sometimes it seems you have to teach them. I field trial bird dogs and have taught a few vets about things in sporting dogs they have never seen or learned about.
Does your family doc know how to treat sport injuries? maybe not.

 

[larryshoat]

I would definitley treat her with penicillin.
Reopen it so it can drain I like to use iodine on these kinds of wounds

 

[fourstates]

Clean wound with iodine. Insert 16ga, 1 inch needle at about 45 degree angle at bottom of incision. Let it drain. Repeat daily as needed. Keep it clean and use a sterile needle each time.

 

[Green Creek]

Not the same animal but we just had a dog run full speed into a hitch and hurt himself badly. A large lump came up and stayed for long enough to worry us so off to the vet we went. He drew out some liquid, cultured it for bacteria and because there was none present, said leave it alone and it will reabsorb.

 

[TheBullLady]

Yes, I would have expected the vet to give the animal some sort of antibiotic, if only penicillin. I would also question how much "large animal" experience he / she has!

It may have to be lanced again.

 

[ltroglin]

Sounds like you should have left it alone. We were working our cows, vaccinations and all, one of our cows came thru the head chute fast and hard , next day had a lump come up on her the size of a basketball. We thought about lancing it not knowing if she had a splinter or something in it, decided to leave it be, come to find out she hit the chute so hard she busted a lymphnode and it swelled, took about a year or so to go down to looking normal again. Your cow was probably swollen and bruised maybe even a blood vessel busted from the horn. If the lump wasn't weeping, oozing or had fever to the touch, it's better to be left alone. Anyhoo, you definitely need a antibiotic now that it is a open site. Also, need to find another vet.

 

[dieselbeef]

Sounds like you should have left it alone. We were working our cows, vaccinations and all, one of our cows came thru the head chute fast and hard , next day had a lump come up on her the size of a basketball. We thought about lancing it not knowing if she had a splinter or something in it, decided to leave it be, come to find out she hit the chute so hard she busted a lymphnode and it swelled, took about a year or so to go down to looking normal again. Your cow was probably swollen and bruised maybe even a blood vessel busted from the horn. If the lump wasn't weeping, oozing or had fever to the touch, it's better to be left alone. Anyhoo, you definitely need a antibiotic now that it is a open site. Also, need to find another vet.

sometimes the wait and see approach is golden...kinda like a broken rib...not much to do about it....im nursin abroken finger from my auger gearhead right now...i know its broke cuz it wont bend...not much to do about it though. cut up a hose clamp for a splint and keep on keepin on

 

[daniel.carver]

Thanks for the replys and the advice, will give a penicillan tomorrow. It has reduced in size slightly, nic eto hear feed back and that it could take a really long time to heal. thanks again to all.
no, the horn did not penetrate through the skin.

 

[dieselbeef]

almost any type of bruise will absorb given enought time.

i had a steer got caught in a head catch. piched down about 2'' deep on each side of his neck. it took over a yr for it to go down in size . on each side of the pipe indents it swelled about 6'' out. both sides of his neck. he walked funny after i finally got him back to health. kinda swung his head to the side..22 months later he provided us with 6oo lbs of awesome meat

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

Yep...some Vets need to be "trained" by cattle people! Too few Vets that have a large animal practice.

Even then, some graduate from Vet school with a "C" average. Others have a "B" or "A" average. You know the rest of the story...lol.

 

[msscamp]

hi, i've got a cow that was horned by the neughbors only horned cow. we work together by sharing the hay crop and running the cows together on each others property. its worked out well so far. anyway i have read on the q&a board about this. the cow has a softball size lump on the right side on the rib cage. I researched how to lance this, but then chickened out and called the vet. he came out and told me what it was and that it needed to be lanced. I watched to see this done by a proffesional. He deadened the area and cut into it, then he took a pair of scissors and stuck up into the area and cut all over the place. Then pushed and squzzzed out the blood and clear liquid. This is my question--he did not give an antibiotic shot. should'nt he have done this? He was there 25 min, and charged me 100.00. the next day the lump was as big as ever. I am treating the area daily w/screw worm fly spray.

You didn't mention whether the skin was broken by the original horning, or how bad the injury that resulted was. If the horn penetrated the skin, and the lump came up several days after then it was probably an abcess - although the material the vet squeezed out of the lump does not sound like an abcess - and antibiotics should have been given. If not, then it was most likely a bruise, and she should be fine provided you keep using the fly spray/screw worm spray and keep the wound clean until it heals.

 

[show steer up]

Sometimes wounds are better left alone. Maybe it would have healed by itself. The problem now is that you do have a open wound that can get infected. I myself am not a fan of every day use of iodine. It is to abrasive for every wound cleaning. The initial cleaning yes but after that it can do more damage to the healing tissue than good. Believe it or not soap and water to keep the wound open is good enough. Since the vet opened the area you need to let it heal from the inside out. It will take some time but the wound will granulate and close with proper care. If you allow the wound to seal before it is healed (from the inside out,) then you risk the chance of further infection. Cleaning the wound two x daily with soap and water and keeping it open to drain should do the trick. Sometimes the wound will seal and if you take a cotton ball dipped in peroxide, it should be enough to re-open the wound for you.
Good luck, hope this helps.