Down cow.

[Ojp6]

We just had a cow go down and stay down for 9 days after it went through chute and got wormed before we turned her out. Came out of the chute acting dizzy and walked down the alley a ways before it hit the ground and didn't get up. Guessing we must have messed up a nerve in the chute. Gave it water and hay every day and we were gonna shoot it on the 7th day but decided to leave it alone. Pretty surprised when we walked up on it in the dark and it was standing up looking at us tonight. Would you think a deal like this would cause a cow to abort? She is supposed to be around 4-5 months.

 

[cowgirl8]

Weird. Wonder what she did to do that. Did she try to get up so that you could see what nerve was effected. We had one go to the vet because of a calving problem. She went down in the chute and damaged a nerve in her shoulders. She couldnt stand because one front leg wouldnt work. The vet cast the leg so that it would stay straight. She was then able to stand. She wore the cast for 2 weeks. We cut it off the other day and off she went.
As far as aborting, I guess only time will tell. I wouldnt think that it would make her abort, and if it were she would have done it while she was down. When our herd was mostly brangus, we'd have cows freak out in the chute. They'd pass out or get all shaky and goofy eyed...

 

[Ojp6]

We've had cows do that before and be ok as well. Never had one down for that long that got back up. Especially since she hadn't really moved at all except for her head for 4 days before she was up. Her only real attempts to get up was the first day and all she did was kind of try to lunge forward but she never got off the ground at all without us lifting her. She couldn't get power to any of her legs but she could move her back ones. Her legs weren't doing anything on the front. We got her wedged up against a fence so her back legs were up the first night but she wouldn't really put very much weight on them and they gave out almost right away and she fell back down. It was really weird. She walks pretty decent now so hopefully she will make it out of this.

 

[cowgirl8]

We had one years ago appear to be paralyzed after pulling a calf. Although done in a chute she walked into and it wasnt that hard of a pull. Opened the chute and she fell out... She could only lunge around on the ground and her front end seemed to just be dead, not the typical back end paralysis. She was down around 2 weeks but was still eating and her calf was nursing her while down, so we figured as long as she eats and drinks. Anywho, one day i went down to the corral and noticed some poop in a different area of the pen, yet, she was in her same spot. The next day, again, new poop at the other end. I thought, i'm going to watch out the window and see who is pooping at the other end of the corral. Sure enough, she was getting up and walking around but laying down in her same spot and all along letting us water and feed her in that other spot..

 

[TexasBred]

Anaphylactic Shock

Never work cattle without a bottle of epinephrine on site. One shot and they'll be up in 5 minutes in most cases.....will still be a bit groggy but will be fine. I might add that epinephrine is dirt cheap.

 

[Ojp6]

I had never even thought that it could be that. Would pour on trigger that? I have heard of calves being allergic to vaccine but didn't think of an old cow having a reaction to pour on.

 

[TexasBred]

I had never even thought that it could be that. Would pour on trigger that? I have heard of calves being allergic to vaccine but didn't think of an old cow having a reaction to pour on.

Absolutely. But most times when I had it happen it would be after worming and giving multiple shots. But please do get you a bottle of epinephrine and keep it "at the ready".

 

[Ojp6]

Thanks for the help.

 

[bball]

Anaphylactic Shock

Never work cattle without a bottle of epinephrine on site. One shot and they'll be up in 5 minutes in most cases.....will still be a bit groggy but will be fine. I might add that epinephrine is dirt cheap.

Awesome input TB. Never even considered that...and I have pushed atleast a gallon of epi through humans over the years.. :tiphat:

 

[branguscowgirl]

I also keep Epi ready with a needle and syringe in a baggy with it ready to go. But Anaphylactic shock usually causes airway constriction. And they die. They will stumble around and go down from lack of oxygen. I don't think she would have lived that long if it was "anaphylaxis." Maybe a reaction or an intolerance. But I am betting on a pinched nerve.

 

[TexasBred]

Sometimes it takes a while...I've had them walk out of the chute like nothing was wrong and then start losing their way....Good thing is she's ok and hopefully the OP will now keep a bottle of epinephrine with him when doing anythign with the cows.

 

[fenceman]

Is epinephrine available over the counter?

 

[branguscowgirl]

Is epinephrine available over the counter?

not in CA or OR. Had to get scrips.

 

[TexasBred]

Is epinephrine available over the counter?

Fenceman your local vet should have it. Haven't had to buy any in a while but use to only cost about $5.00 for a 50 cc bottle.

 

[cowgirl8]

My husband worked for a mobile vet in his younger years and told me once they were giving a horse a shot(dont remember for what). He said the horse was worth a lot of money. They gave him a shot and a few seconds later the horse reared up and over backwards dead. He said it was so fast there was nothing they could do. People tried suing the vet, but i dont know what happened past that.
When i got rabies vaccine, for a few seconds my windpipe closed, scared the doctor like crazy. I straightened out and was ok... I'm not sure if it was a small reaction or just stress. I had been 100% exposed to rabies and i couldnt get that vaccine in me fast enough. Although took days of red tape and for it to finally get to our clinic, i was driven crazy the days waiting, so i'm going to guess it was stress, but i'm sure the doctor was like, "Well crap"..

 

[branguscowgirl]

Just something to think about, because I don't believe that this was "Anaphylactic Shock." JMHO
My knowledge of Anaphylactic shock is #1 A pour on wormer is an unlikely cause. #2 She would have convulsed and died without treatment.

Any kind of illness or deficiency that weakened her, and the stress of working her made her collapse? By being "fed" for 9 days got her back on her feet. I have seen it before with my Selenium deficient cow and also with Anaplasmosis cows. With both Anaplasmosis and Ergot Fungus poisoning they can collapse under stress, but then can recover after rest and good feed. (Good feed also correcting a deficiency that could have caused them to go down.)

My :2cents:

 

[Ojp6]

Yeah we gave her a little good feed too so that could have helped. I thought it might be something to do with a nerve because she was kind of shaking when she came out and then she just fell on her front feet and was sitting with her back feet up and front down shaking for a little bit before she went down completely. She's still up and alive. She has some sores on the side she was laying on, has pinkeye, and she's been limping a little but at least she's still breathing. We turned her out on a little pen that's about an acre with a bunch of grass and we're just gonna keep her there for a while.