Herefordcross
Well-known member
Is D con mouse and rat poison deadly to cattle?
D CON KILLING CATTLE?
- Thread starter Herefordcross
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Herefordcross
Well-known member
Good grief! May sound like a dumb question but, I ask for a reason. Had some mice in some feed sacks and so I put some dcon around the bags to kill the mice and some of the mice are dead in the bags and I'm afraid to use the feed even though the only way the dcon would've gotten into the feed is if the mice carried it there.
Mahoney Pursley Ranch
Well-known member
I don't have an answer for you but I would try to store my grain in a differant manner away from rodents and rat poison. I would think D CON in a large enough quantity would kill a cow. I doubt the mouse got enough on the feed to worry about but if it was me Id probably dump the grain. Why chance it.
Nowland Farms
Well-known member
DCon contains Warfin which is a blood thinner. with the proper amount of warfin, it will kill anything from mice to elephants.
I can not answer your question of what would happen if the cows ate the dead mice.
I do not believe there would be any problem if you removed the mice as you poured the feed form the sacks.
I can not answer your question of what would happen if the cows ate the dead mice.
I do not believe there would be any problem if you removed the mice as you poured the feed form the sacks.
I would be more worried about botulism from the dead mice than I would the D-Con in them.
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Botulism in Cattle
John Kirk1 and John Adaska2
1Veterinary Medicine Extension, University of California, Davis and
2California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Service, Veterinary Medicine Teaching
and Research Center, Tulare, CA
The clinical signs of Botulism in cattle are caused by the toxin produced by the bacteria known as Clostridium botulinum. This bacteria is in the same group which cause such familiar diseases as tetanus and blackleg. These bacteria prefer to grow without air and when the necessary factors for their growth are not present, they form spores to protect themselves. These spores are commonly found in the soil and are very resistant to heat, drying or freezing. When conditions become more suitable for growth, the bacteria sporulate and return to their normal growth pattern. As they grow, the bacteria produce the toxin which causes disease. So, it would not be unusual for the spores of these bacteria to be present in the soil around California livestock operations and yet there would be no evidence of disease in the animals.
After the toxin is eaten by a cow, the clinical signs of disease may appear in 24 hours to 7 days. The primary signs in cattle are lack of tone in the muscles so that the cow becomes progressively weak and wobbly. The weakness is due to toxin interference with nerve impulses to the muscles. Usually the weakness appears in the hindlimbs first and steadily moves toward the head. Many cows lie down in what might appear to be a "milk fever" position with the head in the flank. They often have an abnormal facial expressions with droopy eyelids, drooling and lack of ability to grasp food with their mouth. The tongue may hang out of the mouth due to lack of muscle tone. The gut is usually shut down with no rumen activity, bloat and hard, dry manure. The range of the signs varies greatly from case to case with acute death within 24 hours to moderate, generalized weakness that may persist for weeks. There are no clinical or post mortem signs of disease which by themselves indicate that the condition is specifically due to botulism.
In cattle the disease is most often caused by eating the preformed toxin. Classically, botulism has been commonly associated with pica or craving for phosphorus in phosphorus-deficient animals pastured on soils lacking phosphorus. In their search for phosphorus, cattle eat bones or soil which contain the botulism bacteria and toxin. Individual animals or groups of cattle can be affected. It may also occur with contaminated feeds where the bacteria found a suitable place without oxygen to grow and produce toxin. Animal carcasses provide a suitable place for the botulism bacteria to grow. If the carcasses are baled into hay or packed into silage, cattle may be exposed to the toxins at some later time. This was the situation in a recent case presented to the California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Botulism was diagnosed in a California dairy herd where over 400 dairy cows died following eating feed contaminated by a dead cat.
Botulism is diagnosed by detecting the toxin, not the bacteria, in the blood, gut content or feed. Samples are injected into mice some of which have been protected by specific botulism antitoxin. If the unprotected mice die and the protected mice survive, a diagnosis is made for botulism. The mice assay is not perfect as many times cattle which die from botulism have such low levels of toxin in their blood or tissues that they can not be detected. As a result, new tests are being developed which will detect lower amounts and do not require mice. Culture of the bacteria is difficult and results must be interpreted with care. Keep in mind that the botulism bacteria can often be cultured from the gut of cattle without any signs of disease.
Treatment is only supportive with fluids, nutritional supplementation and good nursing care. Antibiotics are of little value as the disease is cause by the preformed toxin and not the bacteria. Antitoxin is available but is very expensive and only stops the progression of the clinical disease.
Control of botulism is mainly good husbandry practices to include rodent control, proper disposal of animal carcasses, avoidance of feeding spoiled or contaminated feedstuffs. As botulism occurs so infrequently, there are no commercially available vaccines.
5/14/98 botulism
*********************************************
Botulism in Cattle
John Kirk1 and John Adaska2
1Veterinary Medicine Extension, University of California, Davis and
2California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Service, Veterinary Medicine Teaching
and Research Center, Tulare, CA
The clinical signs of Botulism in cattle are caused by the toxin produced by the bacteria known as Clostridium botulinum. This bacteria is in the same group which cause such familiar diseases as tetanus and blackleg. These bacteria prefer to grow without air and when the necessary factors for their growth are not present, they form spores to protect themselves. These spores are commonly found in the soil and are very resistant to heat, drying or freezing. When conditions become more suitable for growth, the bacteria sporulate and return to their normal growth pattern. As they grow, the bacteria produce the toxin which causes disease. So, it would not be unusual for the spores of these bacteria to be present in the soil around California livestock operations and yet there would be no evidence of disease in the animals.
After the toxin is eaten by a cow, the clinical signs of disease may appear in 24 hours to 7 days. The primary signs in cattle are lack of tone in the muscles so that the cow becomes progressively weak and wobbly. The weakness is due to toxin interference with nerve impulses to the muscles. Usually the weakness appears in the hindlimbs first and steadily moves toward the head. Many cows lie down in what might appear to be a "milk fever" position with the head in the flank. They often have an abnormal facial expressions with droopy eyelids, drooling and lack of ability to grasp food with their mouth. The tongue may hang out of the mouth due to lack of muscle tone. The gut is usually shut down with no rumen activity, bloat and hard, dry manure. The range of the signs varies greatly from case to case with acute death within 24 hours to moderate, generalized weakness that may persist for weeks. There are no clinical or post mortem signs of disease which by themselves indicate that the condition is specifically due to botulism.
In cattle the disease is most often caused by eating the preformed toxin. Classically, botulism has been commonly associated with pica or craving for phosphorus in phosphorus-deficient animals pastured on soils lacking phosphorus. In their search for phosphorus, cattle eat bones or soil which contain the botulism bacteria and toxin. Individual animals or groups of cattle can be affected. It may also occur with contaminated feeds where the bacteria found a suitable place without oxygen to grow and produce toxin. Animal carcasses provide a suitable place for the botulism bacteria to grow. If the carcasses are baled into hay or packed into silage, cattle may be exposed to the toxins at some later time. This was the situation in a recent case presented to the California Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Botulism was diagnosed in a California dairy herd where over 400 dairy cows died following eating feed contaminated by a dead cat.
Botulism is diagnosed by detecting the toxin, not the bacteria, in the blood, gut content or feed. Samples are injected into mice some of which have been protected by specific botulism antitoxin. If the unprotected mice die and the protected mice survive, a diagnosis is made for botulism. The mice assay is not perfect as many times cattle which die from botulism have such low levels of toxin in their blood or tissues that they can not be detected. As a result, new tests are being developed which will detect lower amounts and do not require mice. Culture of the bacteria is difficult and results must be interpreted with care. Keep in mind that the botulism bacteria can often be cultured from the gut of cattle without any signs of disease.
Treatment is only supportive with fluids, nutritional supplementation and good nursing care. Antibiotics are of little value as the disease is cause by the preformed toxin and not the bacteria. Antitoxin is available but is very expensive and only stops the progression of the clinical disease.
Control of botulism is mainly good husbandry practices to include rodent control, proper disposal of animal carcasses, avoidance of feeding spoiled or contaminated feedstuffs. As botulism occurs so infrequently, there are no commercially available vaccines.
5/14/98 botulism
