COW DOWN

[piedmontese]

I had a cow calve saturday afternoon and she has been down since.she is eating and drinking.we tried to help her up today with the tractor but when we had her suspended she did'nt even try to stand.her right side is the problem.her legs just seem to have no control at all.i have been giving her banamine.what does anyone think on this? the vet said she may or may not recover.

 

[Tegerian]

Could possibly be a pinched nerve issue from the calving.

 

[dun]

Your vet is right, probably. Roll her from one side to the other a copule of times a day and she may get up. I saw one down a month and the guy finally decided to shoot her and when he went out with the rifle in the morning she was standing at the gate waiting to go in the parlor. I've also seen them get that give up look in their eyes within a day or 2. When that happens the best thing to do is just shoot them

 

[Lucky_P]

Difficult calving, or did she go down afterwards?
If you had the vet out, I'm sure they considered &/or treated for possible hypocalcemia/hypomagnesemia. I've seen some odd Ca/P imbalances that present as a typical 'milk fever', but fail to respond favorably to multiple treatments with Ca/Mg/P, and end up as 'creepers'; some of these may be complicated by ketosis or other problems.

On those difficult calving downers, I'll also hit 'em with some dexamethasone to help diminish swelling around obturator nerves.
Regardless, you need to bed this cow heavily and flip her from side to side 3 to 4 times daily , or lift frequently so that her shear weight won't cause irreversible muscle damage.

 

[hillsdown]

Try giving her an IV cocktail of Dextrose and dex .. then predef for a few days to help with the inflammation and then followed by anifen ( pain reliever) for a few days so she can try to stand. Keep her in a very small paddock so she has acces to food and water at all times with very little movement, even if she make the slightest improvement and moderate her recovery until you are sure she has substantial footing under her and will not relapse before you send her out. Rolling her from side to side is a very good idea as well .

Good luck.

 

[Suzie Q]

So I am guessing that it is Tuesday there so 4 days down before you tried to lift her?

As said above, most probably calving paralysis, caused by a big calf pressing on a nerve and it getting pinched. She should have been lifted 3 times a day for 30 minutes.

We also have a product over here called Key which if we can kick a cow and she doesn't get up we inject with immediately. It is now out of date as we haven't had that happen. (Touchwood)