Lethargic and sick Hereford help?

[chevytaHOE5674]

Ok guys I'm looking for a little help with one of my cows (Vet has been called just waiting to hear back if he can get out here). She is a 3 year old Hereford that has a 7.5 week old heifer calf on her side. The last few days she has been very slow and lethargic and hasn't been eating or drinking much. She has free access to hay and some grass as well as water, salt, and mineral. Today she is standing off by herself with her head held low and she seems to be drooling more than usual. Also today her calf is with the rest of the herd eating hay, not by her much at all.

Any ideas of what it could be or what to do while I wait for the Vet to return my phone call? Thank you for any help you can provide.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I hope your vet can get there quickly. It could be anything from Milk Fever to a uterine infection. Temp? Discharge? Irregular gait?
Good luck.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Hope he can too. No discharge, her gait seems normal but she moves so slow/infrequently that its hard to tell. Trying to get her moved up to the chute so I can get her temp and get a good look at her.

I put a bucket of grain in front of her (how I usually move them around) and she stuck her nose in it and drooled on it then turned away.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Boy she sounds sick! Good luck!
I think if the vet were to be delayed, I would give her a tube of CPM and an antibiotic just to try and save her.

 

[Nesikep]

Could it be hardware poisoning?... if you get her to a workable place, press upward around her navel, apparently they will arch their back in most cases of hardware poisoning.

Good luck with her, and hope the vet can do more than shrug his shoulders

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Have a tube of CPMK here for her as soon as I get her in. Any particular antibiotic you would recommend?

I suppose it could be hardware? Also the wife noticed her chewing on an old bone that she found in the woods the other day. Cow spit it out and the bone was disposed of but who knows what she ate in the woods.

 

[Nesikep]

I found the most dangerous thing are fencing staples... they push their head through the fence, pop the staple into the grass, then go and pick them up. I think I've heard of people trying to use a compass to diagnose hardware, but I don't know how well that would work... perhaps a metal detector?

 

[branguscowgirl]

Check her temp first. With Hypocalcemia they tend to run below normal. Infection she could be elevated. Norm is 98-102 for beef cattle.
If elevated temp. My go to is LA 300. But there may be something better. I hate to advise on that when we do not know what is wrong yet.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Nesi, do you put magnets in your cows? Most people I know do, in hopes it collecting anything before it becomes dangerous.

 

[Putangitangi]

I'll add my informal idea too (based on one experience): intestinal blockage of some sort. Mine stopped eating, hardly anything out the back end - look for anything which looks like blood or dark jam or tar or just mucous - lay or stood around, didn't call her calf, stopped producing milk. She had an intussusseption which may not be very common, complete blockage of her intestine, took her eight days before it was obvious she wasn't getting better and we shot her. (Three vets didn't diagnose the blockage, or we'd have done it a lot sooner.)

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Her temp is 101.8, and we got the CPMK tube into her as well as a steroid shot (to boost her appetite?) that we picked up from the vet. She is still just ho um.

She did eat some grass today and saw her poop "good" three times.

Vet is busy got another hour and then is supposed to call and come out.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Let us know what the Vet says.

There's too many things it could be for me to guess.

I too was thinking *possibly* hardware, possibly so many other ailments.

Good luck and let us know.

Katherine

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Vet came and checked her out. Thinks it may be a touch of Pneumonia but wasn't really sure. Tubed her and gave her some fluids and energy as well as some antibiotics. Been about an hour now and she has really perked up and has drank some water on her own and is picking at a little hay and grain. Will keep an eye on her and see if she keeps improving.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Well, it sounds promising. Good luck! Be sure to let us know how she does.

 

[Nesikep]

We never have used magnets, I do my darndest to keep anything metal off the ground. We had a cow a year and a half ago that suddenly went down hill, stopped eating, never did find out what was wrong with her, it could have been an intussusseption.. we did our own biopsy of her rumen and found nothing, the abomasum was completely plugged solid though... we think some "boss" cows stood around and hogged the water trough and it was 105F in the shade that week, and perhaps she couldn't go drink? She was a good cow too.

Hope your cow does better now, and that the first diagnosis is the correct one!

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Not good this morning. She broke out of her holding pen about 6 this morning (which we thought was a good sign). But now she can barely stand and isn't doing well. Vet is performing surgery right now and will call me back as soon as hes done.

Looking like we might have to fire up the backhoe and dig a hole...

 

[branguscowgirl]

Oh boy, sorry to hear that! Keep us posted. And good luck.

 

[Nesikep]

Fingers crossed for her! Her calf still ought to have a momma!

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

My fingers are crossed as well. Wife is on her way to pickup some better antibiotics for her and we will give that a try.

Her calf is 52 days old today, eating grass and drinking water so she should be able to survive without mom if it comes to that.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Yesterday about noon she got a 6ml/100lbs SC dose of Nuflor and within a few hours she was upright and eating hay. Today she has been out on grass all day and has been drinking a little as well. Don't want to get my hopes up too high but for now she seems to be doing better.