Sick Cow?

[Anonymous]

Hoping someone has some thoughts on a cow that I think is sick. She is young, has had her first calf and I weined it about 3 weeks ago. Up until 2 or 3 days ago she was the one of the first in the pen at feeding time. Now she is the last one in and is moving kind of slow. She hangs her head alot and appears to be hutchbacked(?)and today acted like she wanted to have a bowel movement but couldn't. She is eating, but does not seem to have the same energy and spunk that she has had in the past. I'm in the south central part of Texas. Any help is appreciated.

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[Anonymous]

Sounds like n intestinal problem to me. Could be a wire (hardware disease), or any number of other gut type problems. Talk to your vet ASAP.

dun

> Hoping someone has some thoughts
> on a cow that I think is sick. She
> is young, has had her first calf
> and I weined it about 3 weeks ago.
> Up until 2 or 3 days ago she was
> the one of the first in the pen at
> feeding time. Now she is the last
> one in and is moving kind of slow.
> She hangs her head alot and
> appears to be hutchbacked(?)and
> today acted like she wanted to
> have a bowel movement but
> couldn't. She is eating, but does
> not seem to have the same energy
> and spunk that she has had in the
> past. I'm in the south central
> part of Texas. Any help is
> appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I am in Texas Too, due to the wacky weather we have been having, we have seen a bunch of cattle going down due to something like grass tetany/milk fever.

Get her in the chute and first check all 4 of her teats for mastitis. Then take her temperature. Then pull blood and send a red top tube to TVMDL and have an SMA test run.

This test will see if her enzymes are out of wack and see if her calcium is low.

Cows pull calcium from their bones, so even when they are difficient their blood wil still be normal.

There is a paste called CMPK that can be given to boost blood levels of Calcium, Phos, Pot. this can be given oraly and will help.

If cow goes down, you have little time, but you can give CMPK via IV, and will have to get someone with a Bell IV set or reular IV set to help administer 500 to 1000 ml of this Soln. to boost blood levels and cow will recover. This is given via the Jugular vien, or ear depending on cow, ear is slow, Jugular can be bolused quickly. get a good cow vet, older is better, they have seen more, generaly can look and tell you what is wrong.

Good luck, let us know what you discover.

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