Cows are Down

[Anonymous]

My uncle has 3 cows that have been down for 5 weeks now. 2 died before these. The vet took blood test at the beginning and have just now gotten the results. The cows will eat and drink and can move their front legs to try to get up but their back legs will not work. They are all male even the ones who died. They are not all related. They seem content for us to feed them and clean up after them. They react when touched with the electric cattle prod, but physically cannot move the rear legs to get up. The ages range from 1 to 4 years old. The oldest is the largest and now has to be propped up by bales of hay, but he still eats and drinks. The vet says its a hypnosis disease and I can't find anything about this disease. They want to put one of the cows to sleep and take it to the Raleigh, NC vet school. Do you have any thoughts on what this is? Are there any additional test that could be run or treatments to be tried, without putting the cow to sleep first? The cows will only react one way to being put to sleep. Antibiotics have already been tried.

Thanks

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[Anonymous]

have they had plenty access to minerals? especially selenium? i have heard that heavy doses of calcium could help downed cows... maybe someone with more experience could clarify.. and add to this...

good luck

gene

> My uncle has 3 cows that have been
> down for 5 weeks now. 2 died
> before these. The vet took blood
> test at the beginning and have
> just now gotten the results. The
> cows will eat and drink and can
> move their front legs to try to
> get up but their back legs will
> not work. They are all male even
> the ones who died. They are not
> all related. They seem content for
> us to feed them and clean up after
> them. They react when touched with
> the electric cattle prod, but
> physically cannot move the rear
> legs to get up. The ages range
> from 1 to 4 years old. The oldest
> is the largest and now has to be
> propped up by bales of hay, but he
> still eats and drinks. The vet
> says its a hypnosis disease and I
> can't find anything about this
> disease. They want to put one of
> the cows to sleep and take it to
> the Raleigh, NC vet school. Do you
> have any thoughts on what this is?
> Are there any additional test that
> could be run or treatments to be
> tried, without putting the cow to
> sleep first? The cows will only
> react one way to being put to
> sleep. Antibiotics have already
> been tried.

> Thanks

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[Anonymous]

We lost 3 cows in January to the same thing. Appetite was fine, stool was somewhat normal, gave Vit B every day, checked for worms, even bought a hip lift and lifted them 3 times a day. They still couldn't move their rear legs. And yes, we even tried a cattle prod. We concluded that it was White Muscle Disease due to the lack of selenium. This seems to be the ticket because after we started putting mineral blocks out with selenium we have not lost a one and the whole herd seem much more active. We were only feeding hay which grew in our area very fast in the spring but not much in the summer due to lack of rain. From what I have read, when the grass grows too fast in the spring it looses its nutritional value during the summer. This makes it necessary for mineral supplements during the winter. Oh and by the way, the other poster was right... Calcium is just as important as the selenium. Good luck! Chris Central Missouri PS... If you have any other questions please post again. I will answer.

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[Anonymous]

Kinda the same here only it is the front legs that won't work. Tried everything we know of and vet said they didn't know either

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[Anonymous]

>if the cows have been down that long they aren't getting up. talking about the lack of minerals they may have, if you own cattle you should keep a good mineral out for them year round. if you can't do that, you don't need cattle.

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