Yearling heifer down

[Zsk7687]

A few weeks ago I noticed one of my heifers had started to lose some noticeable weight, but still had a healthy appetite, stayed with the herd and would come to feed. Weight loss worsened and had very loose stool, so last week I treated with Corid for coccidiosis - all of my reading and research (started with cattle back in Feb) kept leading me to issues with calves and Johne's or coccidiosis. I ruled out Johne's, and had a vet come out last Tuesday and she noticed a lump under her jaw (brisket was fine) and determined it was worms. Vet gave her an injection, but since the injection she hasn't been able to stand on her on, and appetite has severely decreased. A local farm that does rescues loaned us a sling to get her up, and came out to show us how to exercise her and try to keep her somewhat active a few times a day, but she's showing little to no progress with standing on her own - much less walking. We have been slowly toting her along in the sling with the tractor with a crew moving her feet by hand to simulate walking. Could there be another/underlying issue causing this to go so poorly and so quickly? The rest of the heard (nine head) is doing fine, with no weight loss, but They were treated with Cydectin on Saturday per the vet's suggestion. I'm definitely taking this personally, because it's due to my lack of observation and/or ignorance as a rookie.

TL;DR - quick weight loss in heifer, even with normal appetite and feeding. Vet gave injectable wormer, been down since the following day (5 days now). No progress in strength, and appetite is all but gone.

 

[WFfarm]

We had a feeder steer go down shortly after worming the group. He seamed paralyzed. Vet said that sometimes a grub near the spine can die and abscess after worming and it damage the nerves. unfortunately he never got better and had to be euthanized.

 

[Son of Butch]

Vet gave injectable wormer, been down since the following day (5 days now).

Vet came out examined the animal and gave a shot of injectable wormer?
What did they say when you told them she went down the following day?

 

[Hpacres440p]

I've heard that some wormers shouldn't be given at specific times due to grub migration to the spinal area-as WF mentioned...

 

[Zsk7687]

Vet came out examined the animal and gave a shot of injectable wormer?
What did they say when you told them she went down the following day?

The vet just left from follow up. He said her going down was due to parasites, and the atrophy caused by parasites/reduced feed intake. They gave me an injectable B vitamin complex and an anti-inflammatory to be given by mouth once a day. He said to have her up in the sling once or twice a day to stretch her out , other than that hopefully she'll regain an appetite and regain some muscle to be able to start to stand on her own. Vet pegged her with a 30-40% chance of pulling out of this.

 

[wbvs58]

Doesn't sound promising.

Ken

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

If the vet used a drug like Ivermectin (grubicide), most likely (like others have noted), grubs had migrated to the spine area. Killing them at this stage is deadly for the host. Deadline date varies in different areas. We are not supposed to kill grubs after 11-1 in NY.
I would be a bit upset that the vet was unaware of this possibility. Since he thought the animal was over-loaded with worms, he might have used a product that did not kill grubs??
All livestock are susceptible to worms. You might consider getting on a health program that includes de-worming a few times a year. I generally deworm mid to early-summer, after they have picked up fresh worm load from grazing, but not long enough to be spreading new supply onto your pastures, and again in the fall (before 11-1)

 

[greybeard]

The vet just left from follow up. He said her going down was due to parasites, and the atrophy caused by parasites/reduced feed intake. They gave me an injectable B vitamin complex and an anti-inflammatory to be given by mouth once a day. He said to have her up in the sling once or twice a day to stretch her out , other than that hopefully she'll regain an appetite and regain some muscle to be able to start to stand on her own. Vet pegged her with a 30-40% chance of pulling out of this.

What kind of parasites?
Pay close attention to what Jeanne-SimmeValley said!!!
There are lots of different internal and external parasites. More than one kind of grub too.
Common cattle grubs and northern cattle grubs.
One of those migrates to the spine and the other to the esophageal area and treating them at the wrong time can cause more problems than the grubs do.

Have you ever noticed any little lumps on the skin of your cattle, especially along the spine?
Those lumps are where maggots from the warble fly has made their home. Certain times of the year, you can squeeze on those lumps and a ugly nasty looking maggot will pop out thru it's air hole in the cow's hide

Some reading material:
grubs

 

[Lucky_P]

I haven't seen a grub in a cow since sometime back in the late 1970s. I'm sure they're still out there somewhere, but widespread use of macrocyclic lactone (Ivermectin-class) dewormers has mostly eliminated them over large areas of the country - to the extent that any concerns about migrating grubs and issues associated with treatments are largely dismissed in most areas, anymore.
The biggest issue with dying migrating grubs causing paralysis or bloating was back in the day when we were still using pour-on (mostly organophosphate) insecticides like Ruelene, coumaphos, diazinon, etc., for grub control.
It's been so long since I even thought about them, I'm still unable to pull the name of one out of the deep dark recesses of my cranium, that we used to use... you had to be careful using it on Brahman-influenced cattle... it'd knock 'em off their feet, and killed more than a few. Seems like it started with a F or a T...
The bloat/paralysis issue is greatly reduced with the macrocyclic lactones (Ivermectin type dewormers) by comparison.

 

[Silver]

Back before Ivermectin we used a product called Negavon (sp?). Poured it on with a long handled ladle.

 

[faster horses]

I haven't seen a grub in a cow since sometime back in the late 1970s. I'm sure they're still out there somewhere, but widespread use of macrocyclic lactone (Ivermectin-class) dewormers has mostly eliminated them over large areas of the country - to the extent that any concerns about migrating grubs and issues associated with treatments are largely dismissed in most areas, anymore.
The biggest issue with dying migrating grubs causing paralysis or bloating was back in the day when we were still using pour-on (mostly organophosphate) insecticides like Ruelene, coumaphos, diazinon, etc., for grub control.
It's been so long since I even thought about them, I'm still unable to pull the name of one out of the deep dark recesses of my cranium, that we used to use... you had to be careful using it on Brahman-influenced cattle... it'd knock 'em off their feet, and killed more than a few. Seems like it started with a F or a T...
The bloat/paralysis issue is greatly reduced with the macrocyclic lactones (Ivermectin type dewormers) by comparison.

Co-Ral is what we used. TagaVon is another. We had to watch when we used them because they could die if used too late in the season. And it was not good if you got it on your skin.