Cow with nail in hoof

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tim1970

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Thursday night when I got home I noticed one of my cows limping. (She was fine Tuesday morning). I took her to the vet on Friday morning, and sure enough, there was a roofing nail in her hoof. The vet removed the nail, ground away some more of her hoof around the hole, and then packed it with what looked like cotton soaked in some sort of antibiotic solution. He then wrapped it up, and gave her another antibiotic shot. While she is not limping near as bad as she was Friday, she is still limping a little, and will not venture far from my corral. She will follow me when I have a feed bucket in my hand.

I guess the purpose of this long post is just to find out if she should be ok, in the next few days, or should I consider getting her to the vet again?

Thanks

Tim
 
She will be fine. Vet took care of any other potential problems that might arise.
I pulled a piece of glass (dont know where it came from) out of the hoof of one of my cows last year. Just cleaned it with soapy water, and sprayed some Terramycin on it, and let her go. She still limped for about a week, but then got ok.
 
Point of reference for you that recently happened.

Cow limping - Wed, tried to get a look without putting her through the chute, and it looked like something was stuck in her hoof, and it was swollen just above the hoof band.

Kept an eye on her.

Called the vet on Thurs for Fri appointment cuz she was limping really bad, dragging her leg and swelling was a bit worse.

Put her in the corral Thurs night, and Fri morning she wasn't limping hardly at all. Swelling still there. Not sure if she wasn't limping cuz she was feeling better, or from being confined.

Vet out - Nothing in her hoof, but it was a bad cut, so he scrapped it, then put a huge globe of some ointment on cotton and wrapped it around her hoof. Long acting antibiotic shot with instructions if the wrapping had not come off by Wed to remove it. We did not have to keep her confined as long as she was on good pasture,which she was.

Wed - Have to cut the wrapping off, swelling is extremely bad by this point (been keeping an eye on it) and her limping had gotten worse after vet worked on her. Vet said to just keep an eye on her.

Long story longer - It took a good 2 weeks before her limping stopped and at least another week for the swelling to go down completely.

I would of swore at one point she was going to go down.

But I did keep a real close eye on her, every day, religiously, and as long as she was eating and getting around I let her be.


Good luck with yours!

Michele
 
She is limping still, but while she doesn't venture far into the pasture, she does get up and walk. She just seems to prefer the bale of hay that is real close to her, rather than venturing far into the pasture. If she is laying down, and sees me coming, she will immediately get up and walk to the feed trough. Also, she is nursing her calf without any problems. I will just continue to watch her real close, and look for any swelling.

Thanks

Tim
 

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