Unknown Issue - walks gingerly

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Farminlund

Farminlund

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23 month old angus heifer (open – headed for the freezer), for more than a week now she is lethargic, many times stays off on her own, & when she walks it's very gingerly as if all feet hurt. She eats some (not like the rest as she is standing by herself as if she is not feeling well). She has only today started to show a little sign of favoring a left rear leg but nothing I would treat at this time (plus there's no obvious swelling or other outward signs). I treated another for foot rot the other day (came on fast & she could hardly put weight on it – two days later you wouldn't hardly know she had a problem; all happened within the time span I've noticed the this animal's sickly behavior). The foot rot animals don't have this behavior that I've observed in the past (ie off on own & lethargic), so to hit her with LA200 doesn't seem like the answer; not sure what to do other than monitor. Any thoughts?
 
I don't have an answer for you, but have a similar experience. I've got a herfx cow about 6 or 8 years old that walks real gingerly, has done so for years. Her toes are normal, up under the hoof looks good, can't find anything wrong to my knowledge, never had footrot. But she walks slow and carefully, never gets in a hurry. Kinda reminds me of someone walking on ice, testing it before they put their weight on it. She holds her weight, milks good, and raises a nice calf each year, so she's welcome here. Plus, she's not gonna outrun me!

cfpinz
 
Pasture - albeit limited as have had little rain this spring. I heard a comment from an old timer that only in the early 60's was there as bad or worse spring. Grass is mixed with some rye still hanging on, fescue, clover, some really short seeding grass (don't know what it is), Ky blue, etc.
 
We've seen footrot often when it's been pretty dry weather, especially with heavier/clay-type soils. Light rain or maybe some spillage from water trough, or around pond....soil gets wet, cattle walk in mud. Then it dries up, and ground is left rough and "sharp". This can cause injury or break in foot/hoof tissue, allowing bacteria to enter and resulting in footrot.
 
No. I've been in situations where I stated I was sure the problem was one thing and should be treated one way, and later learned completely different. I've made a fool of myself enough times I'm learning to never state something as absolute fact.

Having animals is good for a person - keeps them humble.
 
I guess the question you have to answer, Farminlund, is 'is it a bacterial infection of any sort - digestive, respiratory, systemic, in the hoof, etc, etc' and if so go ahead and treat with antibiotic. If not, then you're looking at viruses, poisonings, digestive upsets not related to infections, lamenesses not related to infections like a pulled tendon or muscle, etc. I can't help but think that the listlessness and lameness are linked - just seems a bit coincidental, does it not? Not really sure what to suggest it might be, only that if I ask enough questions surely someone else will be able to figure it out. :lol: ;-)
 
Im gonna say hardware poisoning... shove a magnet bolus down her and see if that helps. Sounds like she's got all the symptoms
 
Has she lost weight and have you seen her poop? The reason I ask is I had a heifer with hardware disease. She started eating very little. She did not want to walk at all. When I got her to the vet she was in bad shape. The first question he asked was if she always stood that way. He pointed out that she was standing with her elbows pointing outward. Her jugular was didtended and he said her heart rate was very fast. Her poop had been very little and it had a dark greasy look to it. Just wanted to let you know those things so you could eliminate them if possible.
 
OK great inputs - thanks all.

I just didn't see any one foot that was bothering more than the others for over a week & even now, that rear I mentioned in my original post is hardly noticable. Thus I ruled out footrot & fescue foot - both of which I have seen before (& neither had symptoms like hers, ie never do I recall listlessness or isolation). But maybe it is - seems others have seen it take this form.

As far as hardware - never had a case that I know of in 20+ yrs but that doesn't mean I can't get it now. She stands almost normal, usually head down more than normal. She has not noticably lost weight - yet. However, I beleive she is eating less than her herdmates. She does eat - infact I ran out to check her after reading the great replies & managed to catch her pooping & then watched her go on to graze in the mid day sun along with another cow. Her poop was normal - fairly loose & very green (ie spring pasture).

One thing I have not observed is her laying down - she has always been standing up, even when most all her herdmates were laying down. Need to go out in the night or some other time & see if I can see that take place.

My experience with fescue foot has always been in the fall when grazing on stockpiled fescue (usually after about 3 weeks after goin on it), although I'm not saying you can get it in the spring - just my past experience.

Has this additional info ruled out anything (ie hardware, footrot, fescue foot). Has it opened any other possibilities?
 
wouldn't rule hardware out. happens when they've swallowed metal objects. metal objects land in the reticulum, and sometimes can peirce the reticulum wall .. does she like to stand with her front feet elevated?... signs are an arch in the back , and reluctance of the animal to move , followed by an uneasy careful gait. any movements such as deficating, urinating or trying to lay down may cause her to groan or grunt.
 
Are you saying she's walking as if all 4 feet hurt, or just slowly because 1 hurts? I'm treating a cow right now for heel erosion, which if you can, operative word being can, catch her lying down and feel between the claws and at the top of the claw see if it feels rough, like you were feeling a broken chunk of concrete. If it is, cut away, being careful to not go to deep, the roughness, then give her 7o cc's oxy. and then per label every 3 days after. Have dosed mine for 3 treatments and is much, much better. Should have said also, at the backside of the claw up near hairline. But I'd give her a magnet as others have suggested, as if she does have hardware it's hurting her to lay down and get up. And if you do, and it is hardware, you'll see big difference quickly.
 
I have seen dairy cows turned out on late cuttings of Alfalfa because they don't have time or the weather to harvest as hay or haylage. Sometimes it blows the feet up. Hoof trimers make $$$.
 
i'm about 95% sure that its footrot or something that if you treat it as footrot, it will clear it up. why so confident? b/c you just treated another footrot case. plus it sounds like most foot rot cases ive seen. you may want to check the back of the foot just above the hoof and see if theres any swelling back there. thats where i normally see swelling.

on another note, once you see signs of hardware disease its usually too late for a magnet to do any good. the magnet is mainly a preventative measure to catch metal before it causes a problem. not so much a fix-er-upper.
 
Beefy; I don't quite agree with your last statement on hardware disease. I know you said, usually, but I've treated a few with a magnet, and have never failed with it's use. Maybe just lucky, but that would be a first. :D
 

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