foot problem

[KNERSIE]

I encountered a strange foot condition, where in my case a yearling heifer has a very sore foot.

She acts the same way she would have with a serious case of footrot, but its definately not footrot. I thought it might be a sprain, but there is no swelling, the foot isn't hot or red or inflamed, the heifer doesn't have a temperature. There are no heel warts, hoofcracks, nothing stuck between the hooves, no hardware, no cuts etc. No visible signs on the foot whatsoever, but she is in pain when she places any weight on the foot.

Not knwoing what else to do I treated with Terrycin LA (200mg) and the foot with iodine. Now two days later there seems to be a small improvement, any ideas what might have caused this. The problem doesn't seem to be higher up. Possible bruise that I can't see? She is very sound footed normally.

 

[dun]

Stone bruise maybe. Neighbor had a cow that came up gimpy. Treated it for everything and it got a little worse then kind of stabalized. When the hoof trimmer showed up he found a small puncture right on the white linee of the hoof on the inside of the claw. When he trimmed it he found a real small stick still in the wound. Another of the wondeerful things that has been hapening with all of the downed trees/limbs/ etc.
I had looked at the hoof and so had the dairyman, it was only after a little of the hoof layer was cut that the wound became visible.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I encountered a strange foot condition, where in my case a yearling heifer has a very sore foot.

She acts the same way she would have with a serious case of footrot, but its definately not footrot. I thought it might be a sprain, but there is no swelling, the foot isn't hot or red or inflamed, the heifer doesn't have a temperature. There are no heel warts, hoofcracks, nothing stuck between the hooves, no hardware, no cuts etc. No visible signs on the foot whatsoever, but she is in pain when she places any weight on the foot.

Not knwoing what else to do I treated with Terrycin LA (200mg) and the foot with iodine. Now two days later there seems to be a small improvement, any ideas what might have caused this. The problem doesn't seem to be higher up. Possible bruise that I can't see? She is very sound footed normally.

what breed is she?

 

[KNERSIE]

hereford, 13 months old

 

[Caustic Burno]

I encountered a strange foot condition, where in my case a yearling heifer has a very sore foot.

She acts the same way she would have with a serious case of footrot, but its definately not footrot. I thought it might be a sprain, but there is no swelling, the foot isn't hot or red or inflamed, the heifer doesn't have a temperature. There are no heel warts, hoofcracks, nothing stuck between the hooves, no hardware, no cuts etc. No visible signs on the foot whatsoever, but she is in pain when she places any weight on the foot.

Not knwoing what else to do I treated with Terrycin LA (200mg) and the foot with iodine. Now two days later there seems to be a small improvement, any ideas what might have caused this. The problem doesn't seem to be higher up. Possible bruise that I can't see? She is very sound footed normally.

I have had them step off in a hole and limp around for a couple of weeks. Always check them for footrot here because we are so wet.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

hereford, 13 months old

just curious i read recently where copper deficiency is most prevalent in simm and charolais then the other breeds

 

[KNERSIE]

I knew that a zinc deficiency make catte more susceptible to footrot, didn't know copper also plays a role

 

[ALACOWMAN]

well both play a role the copper is required for the production of a healthy claw from what ive read.

 

[sjr725]

winter seems more prone to stuff like that - their feet get awfully soft - even though we're not particularly wet or boggy - just enough moisture from the snow and melt to soften the soles. I don't have nearlythe trouble in the summer time as it seems the hooves and soles harden and get alot tougher. I'm guessing stone bruise or something of the sort - just watch it doesn't abcess. I'd wait and watch awhile.

 

[CWT Angus]

I might still lean toward the hoof rot if you are sure there are no foreigh bodies in there. Depending on how gentle she is you could try & soak it in warm water & epsom salts to draw anything out. It wouldn't hurt. It has been so wet this year that I saw my first hoof rot in 5 years. 3 head with varying degrees of symptoms within a 2 week period. Had to treat the most sever case for multiple days. Just my 2 cents.
Good luck

 

[milkmaid]

I'd lean towards a stone bruise or abcess as dun suggested. I've seen plenty of those and you won't see any outward signs other than lameness. Because it seemed to be responding to antibiotics it's most likely an infection, so I'd suspect a stone bruise that's turned into a hoof abcess.

Remember to retreat with the antibiotics; one treatment isn't enough.

 

[KNERSIE]

update on the limping heifer...

She continued to limp very badly for two weeks, have been treated with antibiotics three times, there was a slight improvement after the first treatment, but no improvement after the second and third treatments. She spent most of her time lying down and I had to supplement her a bit to avoid her deteriating too much, gave her a 20 molasses based proteien supplement too encourage her to graze.

The last three days or so she is up and about, still favouring her left hind leg, but she's grazing with the herd and moving without much pain.

Had her in the chute on three occasions and checked leg and hoof thoroughly, never found anything that could have caused this, even scraped the bottom off the hoof looking for a bruise, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

The point of me telling this... don't give up too soon, if I followed the advice given on a similar thread, I would have put her down and not only would have lost money, but also valuable genetics. She wasn't retained for nothing.