respiratory infection....pretty gross

[raykour]

Someone gave my a "dier", he is 450 lbs. and thin. He has a respiratory infection, I assume, and has a putrid smell coming from him. I assume it is his breath.
He coughs a little not terrible and has a moderate amount of discharge.
Don't ask about temperature, I didn't take it.
I dosed him up with some draxxin and maybe he comes out of it. He doesn't act like he wants to die anytime soon.

I have never experienced the smell though, so I am curious about that and if maybe that is an indication it is a losing battle.

 

[LRTX1]

Did it smell a little like vinegar?

 

[raykour]

I wish I could quantify it better. I tried to figure if it was coming with his breath, but I couldn't. I just kept getting a whiff. It was more like a rotten sort of smell.

 

[LRTX1]

Just had a conversation the other day with a fellow and we were talking about poor cattle. He brought up ketosis. Said their breath will have a vinegar smell to it. Guess it has more to do with lactating dairy cattle but, the bad breath made me think of our conversation. Don't know if it can happen in calves if they get low on energy or not. Somebody will chime in and give you some good advice.

 

[bmoore87]

I have noticed on some that are sick for a period of time that their breath or manure will smell bad. I have assumed that is is a side effect of being sick for so long and the bugs in the digestive system are off? I sometimes give probiotics as well as medicine in cases like those.

 

[Hook]

Ketosis smells more like acetone to me

 

[Sunfish]

Someone gave my a "dier", he is 450 lbs. and thin. He has a respiratory infection, I assume, and has a putrid smell coming from him. I assume it is his breath.
He coughs a little not terrible and has a moderate amount of discharge.
Don't ask about temperature, I didn't take it.
I dosed him up with some draxxin and maybe he comes out of it. He doesn't act like he wants to die anytime soon.

I have never experienced the smell though, so I am curious about that and if maybe that is an indication it is a losing battle.

Diphtheria

Clinical Findings

Initially, a moist, painful cough is noticed. Severe inspiratory dyspnea, characterized by open-mouth breathing with the head and neck extended and loud inspiratory stridor are common findings. Ptyalism; frequent, painful swallowing motions; bilateral, purulent nasal discharge; and a fetid odor to the breath may also be present. Systemic signs may include fever (106°F [41.1°C]), anorexia, depression, and hyperemia of the mucous membranes. Untreated calves die in 2–7 days from toxemia and upper airway obstruction. Longterm sequelae include aspiration pneumonia and permanent distortion of the larynx, resulting in a chronic harsh cough and inspiratory dyspnea

 

[Lucky_P]

Sometimes with those 'chronic lungers' that have been treated with everything, including the kitchen sink, about the best you can do is kick 'em out on grass, with some shade and ready access to water, and let nature take its course. Some of 'em will turn around and do OK, some will never amount to much.

 

[raykour]

Oh ketosis smell. Once you smell that you won't forget it. I have had dairy animals for some time and every once in awhile one gets ketosis. The milk also takes on the smell and it will burn your eyes.

I doubt this calf has diptheria....he is bright and alert and since he is thin....this has clearly been going on for awhile. He has a good appetite as well.

As a precaution I will keep him in a pen by himself through the weekend, then I will put him out and see what he looks like later. No skin off my back, I have PLENTY of grass. I have a cow that is a "lunger", you can hear her breathing from quite a ways away. I have also picked up some that were "breathers" at the sale yard before and just put them out on pasture and had a relatively decent animal to butcher in the end.

I will file that in my memory about the fetid discharge or breath being a symptom of diptheria.

 

[Koffi Babone]

Ketosis occurs when the animal is in negative energy balance. That is, it is not getting enough energy for the amount it is spending. This typically happens in dairy cattle a few weeks after calving. The explanation is because they are reaching peak milk production (which requires a tremendous energy input) and they are incapable of eating enough "energy".

There are lab sticks (or powders) that can be dipped in milk to test for this problem (they will turn purple). A blood sample can also be used, but the machine that takes the reading is fairly expensive if I recall correctly.

Though on paper this is possible in a younger animal, it would not be very high on the differential, especially if there is no reason to suspect that energy intake is less than energy expenditure.

On another note, I have seen in the past a cow that seemed to be fairly ok (no fever, rapid breathing, lung sounds on one side, nothing on the other side), but was a poor "doer" and was in the "chronic pen". She was euthanised, the necropsy revealed that she had lost a lung (the side where there was no sound). What was left of the lung ressembled yellow pea soup. It was actually quite amazing that she was still standing and able to avoid us before euthanasia...