Cow with laceration

[bulldog04]

I put some cows on a new lease pasture. I was checking them and noticed a cow walking with a limp. She had a scabbed over sore below the knee. I checked on her today and sprayed her with some kopertox on her leg while she was laying down to see if that would help her limp and when she got up the scab was open and meat was showing. This is a new place and there isn't a corral and if there was she wouldn't go in. I've had cows get cuts and stuff and heal up on there own but this is different.

 

[wbvs58]

A photo will help but generally I find cattle amaze me with how well they heal with zero intervention. Flies are obviously a problem so if you haven't had cold weather yet to knock them keeping some repelling fly spray would help.

Ken

 

[TCRanch]

If you are unable to work her, I agree, keeping the flies off may be the best you can do but I'd still also continue to spray her with Kopertox. I'm assuming the odds of hand feeding her Sustain are slim if she won't even go into a corral but you may try breaking them up in a bowl with cubes. She may very well heal on her own but I'd continue to keep an eye on her. I had a bull with a limp, couldn't figure out why. Took him in and the vet felt a lump above the hock. Shaved his leg and discovered a scar. One poke with a needle and it was full of pus. He had evidently healed on the outside from a cut but was infected internally. I'm talking weeks of keeping him at the barn with a lot of TLC, flushing, ridiculous amounts of penicillin & eventually Draxxin.

 

[simme]

I don't use Kopertox on cattle now. There was a label change.

 

[bulldog04]

If you are unable to work her, I agree, keeping the flies off may be the best you can do but I'd still also continue to spray her with Kopertox. I'm assuming the odds of hand feeding her Sustain are slim if she won't even go into a corral but you may try breaking them up in a bowl with cubes. She may very well heal on her own but I'd continue to keep an eye on her. I had a bull with a limp, couldn't figure out why. Took him in and the vet felt a lump above the hock. Shaved his leg and discovered a scar. One poke with a needle and it was full of pus. He had evidently healed on the outside from a cut but was infected internally. I'm talking weeks of keeping him at the barn with a lot of TLC, flushing, ridiculous amounts of penicillin & eventually Draxxin.

I couldn't get a picture of her as she was wanting to get away from me. Its about the size of a silver dollar. There is a smaller scab on the the opposite side of the leg so I don't know what happened. I did manage to spray her leg with fly spray. I have a buddy with a dart gun if I need to use it.

 

[bulldog04]

Got some pics. There weren't any flies but she wasn't putting much pressure on it

 

[TCRanch]

If there's a smaller scab on the opposite side, I'm assuming she was impaled by something and the pics you're showing is the entry wound. Maybe Banamine Transdermal for the pain?

 

[Lucky_P]

Here's a basic tenet of wound healing that I learned in veterinary school, over 35 years ago, and I'm sure it hasn't changed... doesn't matter if it's a cow, or your own kid.

If you wouldn't put it in your own eye, don't put it in a wound. It's just going to impede healing.

Have I squirted Kop-R-Tox in a footrot lesion? Yeah. Did it help? Probably not.
But I did something, right? Yeah, but just because my granddad did it, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

 

[76 Bar]

If you wouldn't put it in your own eye, don't put it in a wound. It's just going to impede healing.

Brings to mind the copious dose of salt treatment for Pink Eye.

 

[simme]

Brings to mind the copious dose of salt treatment for Pink Eye.

Sometimes I am amazed at the deeply held beliefs some people have in regards to animal treatment. I heard a purebred breeder (He has sold $5000 bulls) say that when he sees an animal that "doesn't look right", he gives it 1cc of Draxxin as a preventative. Regardless of size or anything else. I guess he has the idea to "nip it in the bud". Instead he is building antibiotic resistance in his herd and making a good antibiotic ineffective. In effect "vaccinating" his herd to build immunity to the antibiotic.

 

[TCRanch]

Well, thanks for the info on Kopertox. It's been a while since I've taken an animal to the vet for a hoof/foot injury but he did use Kopertox - and I have some in the workshop. Couldn't find much info online, other than not for human consumption.

I certainly wouldn't put iodine in my eye but I spray it (sometimes) on a newborn's navel and have always used diluted iodine flushing an abscess.

 

[wbvs58]

By the looks and description of how lame she is I think I would get her in, tie the leg up and explore the wound for a foreign body such as a broken off splinter of timber or stick. It is only a small wound for the degree of lameness.

Ken