COW DOWN! Advice please!

[nurseynicole]

Can't get in touch with the vet and need some advice for now. We have mixed breed cows that came from the sale barn in Nov, the cow that is down is bred and is 3rd stage, we don't know for sure how far along. She was stuck in the mud at the pond Tues and my husband was able to pull her out. She lay in the sun all day until about 4pm then with us bugging her she stood. She has been pretty slow since then but comes in for grain and we have seen her grazing a little and having some hay. This morning she was laying by the bales chewing her cud so we have kept and eye on her. We tried to raise her @ 1 and no luck, she would try but about time she needed to push up to stand she would just go back down. Went back out @ 4 and did the same without luck. We did put water and hay by her. I tried her entice her with grain earlier and she was quite excited for it and ate it out of the bucket before I could pour it, she seems alert but almost seems like those back legs are weak or injured somehow?? I know there of tons of things just thought if there was something we could try now we would. Can't get a hold of our vet, should be able to tomorrow, and would love some advice. Also what about trying to get her on her feet somehow without injuring her? We have only given her Baytril and that is just because we have it and she does have a snotty nose---I know that doesn't necessarily mean anything but didn't figure it would hurt either....

 

[hillsdown]

What is her temp ? Are her ears cold to the touch .

I would make her as comfortable as possibly for now and haul food and water out for her . Make sure she is warm and dry if you can . Hopefully the vet can come out soon .

Do you know how to give an IV of dextrose to a cow . If so I would do this too if you can get a hold of a bottle .

 

[Tim/South]

She got up from originally being down and that is always a good thing.
I would give her a tube of CMPK and let her rest some.
It is not good for a cow to rest on the same back leg for too long.

 

[nurseynicole]

Well she got up on her own in the evening yesterday. We will be trying to move her in one of the pens today, so worried that all this stress will cause her to calve and I am not convinced that she has the energy to right now. Thanks for the advice, we'll see how this goes.....

 

[Hook]

Well thats a good start. When is she due?

 

[nurseynicole]

There is no way for us to know for sure but she will for sure calve in the next 4 weeks since she was bred when we bought her. We have her in the pen. We did find some CMPK and gave her that and she is getting city water ;-) and good hay. We usually feed corn gluten and I am wondering what we could feed her to help get her body condition and energy up but not make this a huge calf that we will struggle with delivering. Any recommendations?? Thanks all

 

[branguscowgirl]

If she is not a first calf heifer, don't worry about what to feed her to get her energy up. She is under stress, so she is burning calories.
If she is just weak, and does not appear injured when she walks, I would keep up the electrolytes.