6 year old jersey cow fresh on the 8th october ended up with milk fever, mastitis and ketosis. went down around 3 pm on monday and not eating much. about 2 cups food a day vet gave calcium and dextrose. been giving propylene glycol twice a day. electrolytes and anything and everything we can think of to offer her to ger her to eat. she had chicken feed today about two cups been rolling her side to side. massaging legs. she tries to get up. drinks pretty good. what else can we do? Is there something we are missing? breath smells like chemicals (ketosis). she dont poop much, cause very little going in. she is a great cow. calm and very well natured, hoping and praying we can get a miracle.
down cow
- Thread starter farmlady
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bigbull338
Well-known member
the best thing you can do is get some hipplifters an lift her.an try to get her to eat hay an feed.
I know this isn't what you want to talk about--
can't help much with the down cow-- cept getting hay or fresh grass into her along with some feed.
But feeding "chicken feed" to a ruminant is a no no--
For now they allow meat products in chicken feed making it a BSE risk when fed to cattle.
can't help much with the down cow-- cept getting hay or fresh grass into her along with some feed.
But feeding "chicken feed" to a ruminant is a no no--
For now they allow meat products in chicken feed making it a BSE risk when fed to cattle.
longhorn314
Well-known member
Do a search on here of down cows and you will find numerous things that will pull up.
coolpop
Well-known member
there's a mineral drench for beef cattle I used on a dairy cow we had after she gave birth to twins, the stuff works great, gets need minerals right into their system. It's brown thick liquid. When I go back to the barn, I'll take a look at the bottle to give more details. Haven't had to use it in awhile.
mtncows
Well-known member
I think what he is talking about is aproduct called Nutri-drench sold here by Tractor Supply. Ithink you are doing right by moving her around to prevent pnuemonia etc.Good grain feed with molassas will help if you can get her to eat. I have had mixed results with down cows.Mbad cases wre due to old age poor nutrician (my fault) but had one 1st calf heifer down with paralysis from calving for 6 weeks and she finally healed.You could not pick her out today. I can only because of tag number and one tiny scar from falling when she try=ied to get up.
coolpop
Well-known member
Nutri-drench --- thanks mtncows, that's the stuff I'm talking about. Gets 'um up quick.
In SA we have rumix which you mix with water or vinegar that helps the microbes in the rumen to get them going again and it also gives the cow apetite. Had a down heifer after anaplasmosis that was down for 10 days. Drenched rumix and vinegar twice a day and she got up on the 11th day. Also drenched water inbetween. roll her from side to side often and keep going with the calcium, small miracles do happen if your persistant enough.
Nothing beats the satisfaction of saving a hopeless case.
Remember to dilute vinegar with equal quantities of water. It is a good source of energy to ruminants
Nothing beats the satisfaction of saving a hopeless case.
Remember to dilute vinegar with equal quantities of water. It is a good source of energy to ruminants
mtncows
Well-known member
Vinegar may have some medicinal properties.Heard of an old doctor in Ala.who recommended a tps. of whiskey for patients and if they didn't want to use that then use vinegar.Old farm cre for sheep in one of former large sheep counties in va was dosing pour doing ewes with vinegar. Too much/too strong will choke!
as far as we can tell she slowed down eating about 2 weeks ago. we assumed because she was so close to calving. she was healthy or seemed to be healthy as far as we could tell. she was eating and getting around and drinking just fine. she was due on the 4th of oct. well the calf came on the 8th. he was of normal size. healthy and still healthy and running around. she had him about 10:30 am. we got them in the barn and she was fine, eating and drinking. late sunday we noticed she wasnt looking good. still standing and drinking but little eating. by monday morning she was lethargic. bummed looking. we called vet, she came and checked for not cleaning. no temp. the vet diagnosed milk fever, ketosis, and mastitis. gave her clacium and dextrose iv she also got shot of spectromycin for the mastitis. said the calcium and dextrose she bring her around to eat and drink. by early afternoon she getting worse. called vet back, gave her another calcium and another dextrose and a bottle of something to make her drink. before vet left she went down with weakness. hasnt got up since. about 3:00 pm monday. called vet on tuesday and she gave another calcium and another dextrose. told us to give her propylene glycol to make her liver work. been doing that all week twice daily. also been giving her electrolytes in the water she drinks and drenching electrolytes. called vet on wednesday, basically sounded like vet didnt want to be bothered with down cow, dont know if we will call her again. we have been giving her feed, bag dairy feed, bag dry cow feed, cracked corn, oats, sweet 16 (corn and oats with molasses), fresh alfalfa, 1st crop alfafa hay, grass hay, corn stalks, chicken feed just to try to entice her to eat. she ate some of the green alfalfa, cracked corn and chicken feed. she probably has only eaten about 6 cups of food all week. propylene glycol is keeping her alive. we bought her from a farm auction the end of june. dont know anything about her history. been healthy since we got her. calf is healthy and eating good. dont know if she stepped on her teats trying to get up but they have blisters on them and one is blue. been watching that for infection. she tries to get up. she doesnt like to lay in her poop so she tries to get up to poop to get away from it. we got a hip lifter today will set up and try to get her up tomorrow. we also built a wall of hay so she couldnt see her calf as an incentive to get her up. get her somewhat attentive. we are not in dream land and realize she will probably not survive but we gotta try. she was alert yesterday and called to baby, today not so alert and kind of out of it. i think she had a hard night, she moved alot. it also got cold the last two days, freezing, we covered her with a tarp to keep the cold wind off. keep her warm so she used less energy to keep her warm as she is not getting much energy she is in barn with dirt floor with about 12 inches of straw under her.
born2run
Well-known member
Sub-clinical ketosis is treated well with a Nyacin drench. Sounds like you're going the right way with the cal and dex IV, but you could also try giving Hypertonic to aid in getting her to drink. Unfortunately sometimes the liver shuts down and there is no reversing it. Good luck with your cow!
born2run
Well-known member
This link explains it better than I can...
http://www.mycattle.com/health/updates/ ... nneeds.cfm
Again, I've only seen this work real well in animals that are still standing but exhibiting signs of sub-clinical ketosis. Generally when they're down the drench is useless, but I thought it was worth mentioning to you anyhow.
IV's...mix that I use per the herd manager's instructions are 1 bottle dextrose mixed with 20cc Dexamethasone, 1 bottle cal/dex with B complex. I realize IV's can be daunting, but if push comes to shove go for the milk vein. Milking in a parlor setting this is a vein I use frequently for Oxytocin injection, and have resorted out of sheer frustration to using for a downed animal.
You can buy the drench from any animal health store. Nia-Plus is the brand we use, sure there are others out there.
Hypertonic Saline is giving via IV, and is a combination of sodium, chloride and water. Stimulates them to start drinking.
http://www.mycattle.com/health/updates/ ... nneeds.cfm
Again, I've only seen this work real well in animals that are still standing but exhibiting signs of sub-clinical ketosis. Generally when they're down the drench is useless, but I thought it was worth mentioning to you anyhow.
IV's...mix that I use per the herd manager's instructions are 1 bottle dextrose mixed with 20cc Dexamethasone, 1 bottle cal/dex with B complex. I realize IV's can be daunting, but if push comes to shove go for the milk vein. Milking in a parlor setting this is a vein I use frequently for Oxytocin injection, and have resorted out of sheer frustration to using for a downed animal.
You can buy the drench from any animal health store. Nia-Plus is the brand we use, sure there are others out there.
Hypertonic Saline is giving via IV, and is a combination of sodium, chloride and water. Stimulates them to start drinking.
