Snakebite - NASTY

[Scat_Right]

This is a first for me. Maybe the nastiest thing that I have ever seen. Looks like the ole gal laid down on one and he got her good. TWICE ! !

It's been about three weeks now and the thing is rotting out. NASTY ! !

My partner and I doctored her and are hoping for the best. For a week she limped around, he bit her in the right flank. She is also within a month of calving.

I assume everything is fine with the calf, she hasn't aborted it yet.

What do you think?

 

[Scat_Right]

I should have been more clear.

Do you think the calf will be alright?

 

[Ryder]

If you can keep infection down probably will make it and calf ok. This is just a guess I don't know.
What I do know is that I really do not like snakes.

 

[mdmdogs3]

had a bull that was bit by a snake on his jaw -
the vet opened up the wound - put in a drain - then the wound, drain and all were cleaned with a great cleanser daily for weeks -
he healed fine -
you probably need to get in there and get the infection out
could get septic and then you might lose them both
I'd say worth the cost of a vet visit

 

[shutskytj]

That is one good thing about the north no snakes we have some black snakes and gardner snakes maybe a cotton mouth here and there but that is it. What kind of snakes are biting the cows down there rattlers?

 

[Workinonit Farm]

What kind of snakes are biting the cows down there rattlers?

I cannot speak for Texas, but around this area of Va., we've got Copperheads, Rattlers and Moccasins.

We also have Black Widows and Brown Recluse spiders.

Katherine

 

[JDI]

the moma cow to this bull got snake bit on the throat at about 90 days into her preg.! Knot the size of a large grape fruit. closed off her throat & couldn't eat or drink. She got down & lost about 200lbs. Wife hand fed & watered her for about 45 days. She was able to get her up & eating again & I had her palpated about 4 mon. later( was going to AI her) but she never lost the calf. The bull calf ended up as grand champion simbrah in 2004 at the southeast texas state fair. Sold him for good $$ to another purebred breeder![/img]

 

[Caustic Burno]

This is a first for me. Maybe the nastiest thing that I have ever seen. Looks like the ole gal laid down on one and he got her good. TWICE ! !

It's been about three weeks now and the thing is rotting out. NASTY ! !

My partner and I doctored her and are hoping for the best. For a week she limped around, he bit her in the right flank. She is also within a month of calving.

I assume everything is fine with the calf, she hasn't aborted it yet.

What do you think?

If it was a Timber Rattler you better be pumping her with antibotics and Vitamin C. Timber rattler bite are bad bad bad about causing infections from hel. Vit C helps with tissue destruction, your cow is rotting from the inside out.

 

[Scat_Right]

That's what it looks like to me. Stinks too.

I did not call a "VET", I called my close friend who has been in the cattle business all his life and deals with about a 1000 head.

We have had this discussion before - Vet vs. Real Cowman.

We roped her and got her down, (also a first for me, real rodeo) and shot her up with antibiotics. He said, "Let's watch her and see." But, he feels that she is going to be all right.

What I have heard about snakes is that they are most poisonous right after hibernation.

I will say this, for being snake bit and it looking so bad, she is handling it very well. Other than loosing a little weight, she is acting fine.

 

[Caustic Burno]

That's what it looks like to me. Stinks too.

I did not call a "VET", I called my close friend who has been in the cattle business all his life and deals with about a 1000 head.

We have had this discussion before - Vet vs. Real Cowman.

We roped her and got her down, (also a first for me, real rodeo) and shot her up with antibiotics. He said, "Let's watch her and see." But, he feels that she is going to be all right.

What I have heard about snakes is that they are most poisonous right after hibernation.

I will say this, for being snake bit and it looking so bad, she is handling it very well. Other than loosing a little weight, she is acting fine.

Rattlesmake is the worst venom there is, she need's to be in a lot on feed plenty of water antibotics and Vit C there is a lot going on you can't see.
What you see on the outside is mild if you skinned her she is rotting on the inside.
The venom is a protien that breaks the blood and tissue down, she is being digested.
Her organs are being attacked and destroyed by the protiens in here blood stream and infection, if she does survive you are taking years off of this cow.
I have been down this road and I have tried to give you some advice it will require a little work for the benifit of the cow.
Either doctor the cow, shoot her or get out of the bussiness as this is no way to treat the animal.
Nuff Said

 

[Beefy]

when did we decide it was a rattlesnake?

ive seen snakebites recover just fine with oxytetracycline but i suspect those were mocassin bites but cant say for sure.

vets come in handy for serious ailments like this,too.

 

[Caustic Burno]

when did we decide it was a rattlesnake?

ive seen snakebites recover just fine with oxytetracycline but i suspect those were mocassin bites but cant say for sure.

vets come in handy for serious ailments like this,too.

He's in East Texas and the Timber Rattlers are out in force already, they are hungry and mean have already killed two big ones in the front yard. Timber rattlers are bad about lying at the base of a tree waiting on a tree rat dinner, and old Belle walking up and laying down on them. They are bad bad news won't rattle or move until you are in the middle of them and its to late. Until you have seen someone bit by one or a cow you treat these bad boys with the respect they deserve.
I have seen two people bit one on the little finger he passed out within seconds crapped and peed on himself his arm was already turning black by the time he got to the hospital.
Was playing at a cousins house as a kid dog jumped off the front porch one hit him dog died in seconds and bit my cousin who was behind the dog, They thought they were going to have cut off his leg to save him.
I have seen what they do to cows and horses not pretty.
Being this is the most common pit viper we have I am betting Timber Rattler.

 

[Scat_Right]

I can do this, a little more love can't hurt her.

But don't think for one minute I was mistreating her. I was just doing as I was advised and will continue to do so. I'm out there everyday checking on her, feeding her and worrying about her.

Now, I will say this. You seem to know your stuff, and I'm not picking a fight. But you also could be a lazy non-working fatso that sits around in his underwear and plays on the computer all day. Don't say that this is no way to treat a cow, I promise you, the cow is treated better on my farm than in most. To me it's not a business it's a hobby. These are not only my animals; these are my kid's animals. They all have names, and if you name 'em you are more likely to care for them more.

Now, if you think pinning her up and giving her extra TLC, even more than what she is getting, then I can do that.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Caustic Burno]

How did you know I was sitting in my underwear and scratchin?
Do you have one of them web cam things if so bet you were impressed with long like snake big like bull.

PS Now put on your slicker suit and go pen old Belle and take care of that cow this cold rain and her havin to hussle food trying to stay warm ain't helping.
If I PO'd you to moving and helping that cow good as that was the intent.
You think you walkin in the pasture and lookin at the old girl has some kind of healing powers not hardly.
Hug's and kisses
Caustic.

 

[Scat_Right]

I am putting on my boots right now. It's beginning to pile up.

But I do have a question for you. I feed them all the time, probably over do it with cubes. 50lbs a day for only nine head. But I get her off by herself and give her her own pile and she eats fine.

Now some facts you need to now.

First noticed the bite three weeks ago.

For a week I had no clue, thought she got run into the backhoe that was parked in the pasture. Looked like a strawberry a person could get from sliding in a baseball game. She also limped a little.

Second week it started to bust open and drain. This is when we gave her penn. Still limped. This is when I had several "Cowmen" look at her and was given the advice.

Now, going on Third week, stinks and is nasty looking.

But, she is eating and drinking and moving around fine. No more limping.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I am putting on my boots right now. It's beginning to pile up.

But I do have a question for you. I feed them all the time, probably over do it with cubes. 50lbs a day for only nine head. But I get her off by herself and give her her own pile and she eats fine.

Now some facts you need to now.

First noticed the bite three weeks ago.

For a week I had no clue, thought she got run into the backhoe that was parked in the pasture. Looked like a strawberry a person could get from sliding in a baseball game. She also limped a little.

Second week it started to bust open and drain. This is when we gave her penn. Still limped. This is when I had several "Cowmen" look at her and was given the advice.

Now, going on Third week, stinks and is nasty looking.

But, she is eating and drinking and moving around fine. No more limping.

The infection from a rattler bite is what worries me out of the four or five cattlemen around me somebody looses a cow every year to them. They survive the bite its the infection that comes after the bite. No one seems to notice that one has been bite until its a rotted mess.
I have only seen or know of one Angus that was hit and that was all she wrote. She was bit on the brisket and them fang marks were 2" apart.

 

[Scat_Right]

I just hate this !

Been in the cow business less than a year and this happens.

But, the faster you get thrown in the fire, the faster you learn.

 

[cowspider]

To me it's not a business it's a hobby.

OH NO :shock: :shock]

 

[mdmdogs3]

This is when I had several "Cowmen" look at her and was given the advice.

remember the cowmen are looking at their bottom dollar
calling the vet is different for them than it is for you -
you said these are your kids' cattle - i.e. big dogs

you may have to ask yourself how much are you willing to spend - I have friends that there is no amount of money that is too much for them to spend on their dog - I have a Dad that the dog has to be one step out of the grave before it goes to the vet - I'm in the middle - I've only been working full time on the farm for a year and Dad and I have already figured out that I intervene long before he does - so far he has been right but so have I - so there is no one answer - just a comfort level.

so - since these are your kids' cows with names - I wouldn't necessarily treat them the same as the cowman's cow that is 1 in a 1000 - I'd just take their opinion as an option but I'd go back to my comfort level.
(this will probably start another battle ;-) but what the heck more interesting posts to read )

 

[Cheyenne]

I also agree with Caustic. In my opinion your "more TLC" and wait and see attitude is going to cost you a cow and a calf.

My opinion FWIW is that you need to get the vet out there to clean out the wound and hit her with some stronger antibiotics than penicillin. Especially if you think she was bitten twice. If you continue to let the infection get worse, it will eventually get into her blood stream and if it doesn't kill her it will probably harm the calf.

If this wound doesn't start healing soon y'all are going to be getting into fly season soon I assume. What are you going to do about fly and maggot control? Are you going to let her get eaten from the inside out also?

I am not an experienced cattleperson, we raise a couple of bottle calves for 4-h projects and have a few head of feeders for friends and family, no they are not pets, but I would never, never, never let an animal go untreated by a vet with this type of injury.

I just hope you can explain to your children why their pet cow died, when she could have been properly treated and saved.

You have been given this same advice more than once on this post and seem to have ignored it previous so I am not sure why I am wasting my time, but if you can't see the logic, reasoning and common sense behind all of this good advice then maybe you should consider selling your cows and raising poodles.