Pinkeye!!!

[MartinFarms]

This has been the worst year for flies since I started 4 years ago. I have a good mineral out, fly rubs, pastures bush hogged,and spraying the cattle with diesel/permethrin mix. I've still had 15 plus come down with pinkeye. Treating accordingly using LA 300 and eye patches. All have cleared up but one. She contracted pinkeye in both eyes and has little to no vision. I have had her penned with hay and water for 12 days. My question is, do you think I could let her out and she would be able to find water? Or just keep her penned until she regains sight? Thanks guys

 

[denvermartinfarms]

I would keep her pinned myself, how is she improving?

 

[MartinFarms]

I patched her worst eye so I do not know how that eye is doing. The other started out fairly white and after two rounds of 300 the looks like it is regaining color but still no sight. I talked to the vet and said I was doing everything right and just give her time.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Sounds good, you could probably go either way, but I still think keep her up for a little while longer.

 

[Chris H]

I patched her worst eye so I do not know how that eye is doing. The other started out fairly white and after two rounds of 300 the looks like it is regaining color but still no sight. I talked to the vet and said I was doing everything right and just give her time.

I'd patch both eyes and keep her in a pen where she'll find the water easily. Some people on here pooh-pooh the veterycin eye wash, but those of us who have used it will swear by it. I leave the bottom of the patch unglued so I can lift it and look at the eye. The flies don't seem to crawl up under it, so it's still protected. If the pinkeye is bad I rinse the eye with the veterycin once/day.

Did you vaccinate for pinkeye?

 

[Double R Ranch]

I swear by the veterycin now also. Doesn't matter which large animal ones as they all are basically the same.
Also with ones that have both "infected" I put a horse, foal or mini (depending on animal size) fly mask on instead of patching both eyes or not patching one. This shades the eyes, keeps flies away while still allowing them to see enough of what they can (depending on the severity). Makes for easy treatment as well. I save all our old masks and grab sizes I don't normally use at used tack stores etc. Dip in disinfectant and reuse. Has worked amazingly well for us for quite a while.
I have had quite a few comments over the years on calves running around the pasture with "cool shades" on.
Might help you in this case????? Just a thought.

 

[Howdyjabo]

If she is used to the pasture and herd mates, she'll get along just fine.

I like the idea of the horse face masks and third the vetricin.

 

[backhoeboogie]

3 cc pen in the eyelid and LA200 or 300 (don't use it for anything but it is good for pinkeye)

You're done. Yes it is old school. No putting masks on and off or patches etc.

 

[boondocks]

Agree it's been a very bad year. Have a 16 month old with it bad in both eyes. Have used Vetericyn, 2 shots of LA, and squirted Pen in eyes. She is loose with the other cows (2 of them are fighting it but much more mild cases). We have moved them to pasture w/o burrdock, have sprayed with Permethrin, have an oiler out....But flies are still awful.

It's been about 2 weeks and no sign of improvement yet on the yearling. At this point, she appears to be totally blind but seems to be eating. I have watched her pee so she is finding the water tub. We had planned to AI her in a few weeks. I'm being advised that it's still ok to try AI (assuming she's in decent body condition then, of course). A few questions:

Any sense in calling out vet at this point? (we would have initially but didn't have chute & headgate ready yet; vet won't come w/o it and I don't blame them. Once we got it finished, we were lucky and got her in it immediately and gave her the 2nd shot yesterday).

Anyone thinking we should cull her before she loses condition? She's registered Angus.
Any reason not to try to AI?
Thanks!

 

[Double R Ranch]

Do you have a chute set up now?

 

[boondocks]

Do you have a chute set up now?

Yes. We have given her 2 rounds of LA, and squirted her eyes with Pen twice. We have not given her anything else since that (so, last treatment was a week ago now). She is getting knocked a little by a few of the other cows. We are watching that closely, and if it continues or worsens will maybe have to put her in a pen. (we tried once but she got out, and she was lucky not to hurt herself doing so, so we didn't want to risk it by trying again). For the most part, she is staying near the herd, and seems to be eating and getting water.

I had hoped yesterday that she was maybe seeing at least some shadows, but then today she was bumping into barbed wire and I think really isn't seeing a thing. It's now been over 3 weeks; if she does get sight back, is it likely to take awhile yet? Or conversely, at what point do we resign ourselves to her being blind?

Poor bugger was in heat in the middle of the worst of it, and getting ridden! We plan to AI her in 2 weeks along with the others; everyone (vet, AI tech, long-time farmers, etc) is telling us she should do fine, but I sort of hate to put her through it....On the other hand, she's not a pet, so it's either try to breed her or slaughter her, so I guess maybe AI at least gives her a chance....

 

[Double R Ranch]

I'm guessing you didn't patch her eyes in the beginning? I feel that this probably would have made a HUGE difference in her recovery. Light plays havoc on pinkeye eyes. Especially when you can't access the animal on a daily basis for treatment.
If I was going to keep her and try to salvage her I would get her in and put patches on her eyes. In a few of my cases I used a horse fly mask when both eyes are effected and I don't have a secure enough pen to keep one in. If I can patch both and pen it I add a calm cow to allow her to use as a crutch until the patches come off. Fly masks allow a slight amount of sight if she has any while still shading the eyes. Not as good as patches because it still allows light but does shade the eyes and keeps flies away.
Maybe you can regain some sight? Patch them and pen her up. Check them in a week or so. See if they've gotten any better. Take pictures to compare sometimes helps. Be sure she's in a good sturdy pen.
Personally I wouldn't breed her. At least not until I knew she would be able to see reasonably. I hate to say that but unless I knew the eyes could be cleared up enough I don't feel it would be a good idea. At this point I'm not confident clearing up will happen. In my opinion it wouldn't be fair to her to ask her to "survive" almost or completely blind let alone being blind and calving, mothering up, protecting her calf etc. Hard being a 1st time heifer as it is. My guess is she feels even more need to be with the herd because she can't see. More eye injuries seem to follow on blind cattle. They don't see the fence or sticker bush or whatever until its poked them.
Is this a registered animal? You said it wasn't a pet so Im just trying to understand the situation
They are herd animals (as I'm sure you know ) and add a visual disability to that and it can be a nightmare. That escaping incident will probably just be the start of your headache. Doesn't sound like that event had any man made pressure Trying to bring up your herd, you could have major fences run throughs among other disasters. Blind cattle keep going in a panic in my experience. Had a neighbor with a few.
Last opinion :mrgreen: If she's already getting beat up it will probably just get worse. Every one of your cows who wants to show dominance or keep her away from them (which she wants to be close because she's relying on them to see) will beat her up. If she gets scared and cant escape.......
I wish you luck however you decide and look forward to an update.

 

[boondocks]

I'm guessing you didn't patch her eyes in the beginning? I feel that this probably would have made a HUGE difference in her recovery. Light plays havoc on pinkeye eyes. Especially when you can't access the animal on a daily basis for treatment.
If I was going to keep her and try to salvage her I would get her in and put patches on her eyes. In a few of my cases I used a horse fly mask when both eyes are effected and I don't have a secure enough pen to keep one in. If I can patch both and pen it I add a calm cow to allow her to use as a crutch until the patches come off. Fly masks allow a slight amount of sight if she has any while still shading the eyes. Not as good as patches because it still allows light but does shade the eyes and keeps flies away.
Maybe you can regain some sight? Patch them and pen her up. Check them in a week or so. See if they've gotten any better. Take pictures to compare sometimes helps. Be sure she's in a good sturdy pen.
Personally I wouldn't breed her. At least not until I knew she would be able to see reasonably. I hate to say that but unless I knew the eyes could be cleared up enough I don't feel it would be a good idea. At this point I'm not confident clearing up will happen. In my opinion it wouldn't be fair to her to ask her to "survive" almost or completely blind let alone being blind and calving, mothering up, protecting her calf etc. Hard being a 1st time heifer as it is. My guess is she feels even more need to be with the herd because she can't see. More eye injuries seem to follow on blind cattle. They don't see the fence or sticker bush or whatever until its poked them.
Is this a registered animal? You said it wasn't a pet so Im just trying to understand the situation
They are herd animals (as I'm sure you know ) and add a visual disability to that and it can be a nightmare. That escaping incident will probably just be the start of your headache. Doesn't sound like that event had any man made pressure Trying to bring up your herd, you could have major fences run throughs among other disasters. Blind cattle keep going in a panic in my experience. Had a neighbor with a few.
Last opinion :mrgreen: If she's already getting beat up it will probably just get worse. Every one of your cows who wants to show dominance or keep her away from them (which she wants to be close because she's relying on them to see) will beat her up. If she gets scared and cant escape.......
I wish you luck however you decide and look forward to an update.

Thanks for the thoughts--very appreciated!
We did put a patch on but it fell off right away. (I don't think we gave her enough time in the chute for the glue to "set up."). She is registered; we bought her last Nov. She will be 16 mos tomorrow. Her body condition is good; she is eating well and drinking. Today she is laying down contentedly in the shade, with the cows all touching and no one feisty. I think maybe a couple of the big mamas were in heat earlier in the week and (as you predicted) she was "annoying" them. Today she's resting against one of them that butted her a little two days ago, and no issues (knock wood). i keep hoping she will get a bit of sight back; she does turn her head a bit like she can see a little in the one eye.
When the patch came off, it left a big glue ring (like a bandit!) and I wonder if the 2 other cows she was having an issue with picked on her since she looked funny (I've heard chickens do that)?

If I had to guess, I think the infection itself has run, or mostly run, its course with her, so it's just a waiting game.

The vet can take a closer look at her when she comes to start the AI protocol in a week, and we'll see what she says.
Just had the soil extension agent out, and he suggested putting the feeder cows into the brushy pasture, and keep the registered ones out until it's stomped down more, so we're doing that this weekend.
Thanks again!

 

[Double R Ranch]

We fight that problem a bit ourselves! Lol! I've thought they sat long enough and have them slide off coming out of the chute on the head gate! Frustrating! Lol
Last one kept fighting for dominance as soon as we put her with the herd. Brought her back up and left her eating hay in the chute for a half hour ;-) That fixed her! Lol
If she's managing well with the herd id give it a chance. Sounds like she not real squirrely. Also sounds like your right. She must have a little vision. She will gain more back over time (if its run its course) but I wouldn't expect a clear eye in the long run.
I think I misread your post and thought it was a different situation. I look forward to hearing more and seeing a new calf out of this cow Best of luck getting them all settled 1 go!

 

[deenranch]

Try using the "Dry Cow" paste and LA200 combined. The Dry Cow has penicillen in it and it's thicker than penicillen and coats very well....

 

[Double R Ranch]

I have heard of this but never tried it. How much and how often do you put it in the eye? And do you patch also? looking forward to giving it a try.

 

[deenranch]

I have heard of this but never tried it. How much and how often do you put it in the eye? And do you patch also? looking forward to giving it a try.

I put the Dry Cow in every other day. No patch. LA200 every 4 days

 

[Double R Ranch]

Thanks

 

[Angus106]

I've only ever had one with pinkeye. I used LA300, squirted pen in the eye, and used an extra large horse fly mask. cleared up from bulging eye to tiny white spot in about 3 days or so.

 

[tnwalkingred]

I've got a bull calf with pinkeye in one eye. I got him up Friday and rinsed the eye out with vetricyn. Then I gave him 15 cc of LA300. Lastly I squirted dry cow in it before turning him out. The eye looked better today and I plan on doing this again tomorrow. He's going to the meat market in a few months.