Cow with swelling under jaw...

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have a black angus cow which has swelling below it's jaw. I don't observe any other symptoms other than this. It acts fine, eats just fine, and looks normal other than that.

A couple of months ago I had a young bull with probably the same thing. He had the same swelling under the jaw but also had diarehea for over a month. I left for 4 days and I found he suddenly lost a great amount of weight, and became extremely weak for about a week afterwards. During that time a neighbor gave him some worm medicine and antibiotics but the bull died a week later anyway.

Does anyone have any ideas what this may be?

Thank you,
Allan

 

[Beefy]

It sounds like they are wormy. Deworm them immediately.

 

[Jake]

We've had a cow with wood toungue go through the same thing as your bull. But her tongue swelled up the until she couldnt hardly drink. There was no eating. I'd doubt that it is this but I was just throwing a possibility out there. Lump jaw and some worms will also do this.

 

[dun]

Treating for grubs can also cause problems if treated at certain times of the year. Have you used a pour-on or other wormer recently?

dun

 

[Anonymous]

Nope, they haven't been wormed in quite some time.

I've been doing some research and it looks like the symptom is called "Bottle Jaw". This can be due to liver flukes, Johne's Disease or a couple of other maladies. Now the trouble is figuring out what's the cause. There isn't a vet that wants to come out here in the middle of nowhere.

Allan

 

[la4angus]

Where is your "middle of nowhere."?

 

[Anonymous]

Ihad an angus cow do the same thing it turned out to be some type of cancer she lasted about a month after the swelling showed up

 

[TheBullLady]

The bull you lost sounds suspiciously like Johne's disease. The "bottle jaw" is also a symptom.. although it could be something else as well. It's generally thought to be a sign of anemia.

 

[Anonymous]

Worm your stock, Allan! Since you haven't been, and nobody knows where you're at or what your grub situation is there, I would use something like Safeguard or something that won't kill grubs. Always look at the simple causes of symptoms first. They are usually more likely to be where the problem is, not to mention being easier and cheaper to fix. Best of luck.