# My cow is down (used to be "Red Cell for anemic cow") updated 1/15



## dragonmorgan (Dec 14, 2012)

I've got a down anemic cow and I am going to try giving her Red Cell. The jug I got only gives directions for giving it to horses so I am unsure of the dosage I should use and how often to give it. She is a small cow for her age (I think, since I am not super knowledgeable with cow weights and growth). Anyway she is around 2 yrs old and I think she weights around 200 lbs and DH thinks it is more like 160 or so. He probably knows more than me about it though.


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## redtailgal (Dec 14, 2012)

I would go by the same dosage for the horses. 

Good luck with her, I hope it turns out well.


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 14, 2012)

Thanks me too. Once we get the anemia under control we will then have to deal with the issue of gettin her up so we still have a long road ahead.


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## Shelly May (Dec 14, 2012)

Why is she anemic? what was the cause?


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 14, 2012)

The only thing we can figure is parasites. I had suspected that she might have worms and then this past sunday she went down. I wasn't sure what it was but with the help of some people in some other forums we figured she must be anemic from the parasites. She seems fine (eating and drinking good, bright eyed and alert, etc) except for the fact that she is too weak to get up and her gums are very white.


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## Bossroo (Dec 15, 2012)

We need more information than you provided.  So, you say this bovine is about 2 years old and weighs about 200 or 160 lbs. What breed is she, is she a mini, lowline, or normal size ?  If this bovine if of normal size breed,  at 2 years of age  she should weigh several times that amount.   Or does she look like a starved skeleton ???


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 15, 2012)

ok She is a 2 yr old (at least, this is her second winter so I am sayin shes 2) hereford heifer. She isn't a starved skeleton so she probably weighs more than I posted I am just not sure how much. I have always been bad at guessing weights but she is, in my uneducated opinion, small for her age. I can get a picture of her tomorrow if it would help. She is pretty skinny though which is why we figured on worms being the underlying issue to the problems.

Anyway we noticed last sunday afternoon that she had been laying in the same spot all morning and hadn't moved. She didn't look like she had fallen and she was laying in her normal spot in the yard. When we tried to get her up we couldn't. We have been giving 10% sweet feed but yesterday we started her on a bag of 12% and she's eating hay. Before she went down it was just the occasional sweet feed and then some hay and grass. We have given her b12 shots, one dose of red cell (but I will be going to the feed store tomorrow if they are open to get some iron injection to give her instead), wormed her with Ivermectin but when we are able we are going to worm her again with Cydectin since I was told it works better. I have tried giving her molasses water which she refused. Her gums are very white but her eyelids seem ok, not pale or anything, but I am not really sure what all to look for with that so I could be mistaken. I have tried to call the vet and was told that I was doing all I could and to keep it up and hope that she got up, I know of no other large animal vets around here to get to see her. 

She seems fine other than not being able to get up. She tries to pull her legs back when I stretch and massage them, seems alert, has a good appetite, vocal as usual, tries to stand, fights us when we try and give her shots or make her drink anything, and didn't have any sores in her mouth that I could see. DH has managed to lift her backside up and we have gotten her feet under her. She tries to stand and can support some of her weight but not all and not for long. I haven't taken her temperature yet because DH refuses to let me use the family thermometer so it is on the supply list for tomorrow also. I am not sure if I missed anything but if I did or you think of anything else I might could check let me know.


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## Cricket (Dec 16, 2012)

This is probably a long shot, but . . .  as long as she is down, look at the bottoms of her hooves and between her toes and make sure she doesn't have foot rot or anything odd.  If they get it on both feet they don't appear to limp, but the pain can cause them to refuse to get up.  Good luck!


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## Shelly May (Dec 17, 2012)

can you get a poop sample for your vet, and have them check the egg count for the parasites, Menigeral Worm is Rare in
cattle, but has happened, They loose all ability to walk, If sheep/goats ect get it. They have to be wormed with safeguard 
every day for 5 days straight if they get that worm, or they will die. So take a sample to vet and see if you can find out what
kind of worm the cow has and how bad!


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## redtailgal (Dec 17, 2012)

You said cow........so she has calved before?

Is she in with a bull now?  Has she been in with a bull in the past year? (meaning is there ANY chance that she is bred?)

How much ivermectin and cydectin did you give her? (I dont mean this ugly, but if you estimated an adult hereford that does NOT look like a skeleton at 200 pounds, I'd bet that you have SERIOUSLY underdosed her on both the wormers AND the Vit B injectible)

Now go look at her (take a pair of pliers with you) and tell me the following:

If you pinch her tail (be forceful but dont break it) does she react? (check the tip, the middle and up high) If there is no reaction, pinch over her hips, and down the back of her legs.

Is her anal area swollen or discolored?

Any drainage from her vaginal area?

Are her hind feet/ankles/knees swollen?  If so, is the joint hot? is the joint tight feeling or "squishy"?

Are her ears being held at 3 oclock and 9 oclock? are they lower or higher?

PUSH on her hip joints, push hard (be careful, she may kick, if she does, that's good)  Do you hear a popping or grinding sound?  Does she react with annoyance or pain?

Regardless of the answer to those questions, I'd speak to the vet and see about giving her a couple doses of banamine.....but you need to get a decent weight on her, even if its just an estimate.    Take a pic of her, put something in the pic that we can see beside her for a size reference (a wheel barrow, yourself, a standing shovel, etc).


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 18, 2012)

Ugh I had it all typed out and ready to post and then just exited out like a dope. Here goes again.

I was mistaken when I called her a cow. It is a bad habit to call them all cows. She is a heifer. She has never even been around a bull and for the past 4 months or so she has been the only heifer in the yard. But the other one was younger than her. Anyway I just got in from checking this stuff out and here is what I found.

Her temp is 102.6 but I am not sure what to do to bring it down.

When I pinched her tail on the tip she felt it and tried to move her tail, when I pinched it in the middle she looked back at me and tried to move it and when I pinched the top she swung her head back at me and shifted around a bit.

I pinched her legs and although it took a min she did feel it and try and move them. She only seemed to notice when I pinched the ones she wasn't layin on tho. I don't think she noticed when I pinched the back leg she was layin on. It's been about 2 hrs since I rolled her over though so I will go back out in a few and shift her. I can recheck that leg if you think I need to.

Her anal region does not look swollen or discolored to me and there isn't anything draining from her vaginal area either. I took a pic of it if you would like me to post it though just in case I am wrong on this.

Her front knees and back ankles look a little swollen but it is hard to tell. I am not saying that she wasn't underweight because she was so I don't know if that is just how they look or if something is wrong. I felt of them and they felt warm but not super hot or anything. Again this is one area I have no clue what I am looking at though. Is the vet the only place I can get banamine from? Also her joints didn't feel squishy and her legs move alright but she is a bit stowed up from bein down so long. 

I pushed on her hips although I wasn't sure what would be too hard. I didn't hear or feel anything and she didn't seem to notice really.







Front knee





Back ankle





I tried to take a video just so you can see her. Maybe you will see something about her behavior I am missing. Shes not really doin much though.




If I missed anything let me know.


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 18, 2012)

O and as for her dosings. We give 5 ml of b12 every other day and gave her 10 gms of probios (the recommended dose for cows under 400 lbs). I am not sure about the wormer since DH gave it to her and I will have to ask him when he gets up. Any guesses on her weight would be appreciated. I have just been so afraid of overdosing her is all.


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## WildRoseBeef (Dec 18, 2012)

Use your thumb and forefinger and pinch the skin at her neck to see if she's dehydrated.  If it goes back right away she's not, if it doesn't, then there might be another symptom to the problem with this poor lil' gal...


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 18, 2012)

It went back right away.


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## WildRoseBeef (Dec 18, 2012)

dragonmorgan said:
			
		

> It went back right away.


Good to hear!


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## Cricket (Dec 18, 2012)

If it were mine, I'd try getting the vet out.  Maybe you could e-mail him these photos?


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 18, 2012)

I talked to her back when she had only been down a few days and she wouldn't even come take a look. I doubt if she will be interested in seeing her now that she has been down over a week. We are talking to a friend who knows a retired vet that he calls for advice and we are hoping that maybe he will help us out some with her. I have been searching for any other large animal vets in our area too. Maybe I will get lucky and find one willing to help. My budget isn't endless though so I have to be mindful of how much each new thing is costing. I wish we had more options that is for sure but this close to Christmas and us with only one income puts us having to be careful.


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## redtailgal (Dec 18, 2012)

102.6 is a good temp, within normal and no reason to be concerned.

I showed the pics to hubby without giving him any information.  He estimated her to be about *12 weeks old*. This is a problem.  She should be ALOT bigger than this.

To be blunt:  Your heifer has a serious problem.  She needs to be thoroughly vetted, a complete fecal and SOLID bloodwork done. I suspect that had some point in her youth she had severe coccidia, and her growth was severely stunted.  Have you had her long enough to know her pediatric history?  Did she ever scour really bad?  A bad coccidia infection can hit a calf and even though they recover it can  cause some nasty internal damage that stunts their growth, and at times will cause them to eventually lose weight, get weak and go down, only to starve to death, even though they are being fed exorbitant amounts of feed.  The coccidia damages the digestive tract so that the proper nutrition cannot be absorbed into the body, thus causing starvation.

Another thing to consider here is her hooves.  The hoof shown in one of the pics is in pretty rough shape.  It needs to be properly trimmed, which is alarming as most cattle shouldnt need their hooves trimmed.

We would estimate her at about 400-450 pounds.  A small sized two year old heifer should weigh about 1000 lbs.  

`If you cannot see a vet:

Redose the Ivermectin at 500 lbs. (its a heavy dose but it wont hurt her) repeat it in 10 days.  Use INJECTABLE and inject it.

Lay the probios to her.........you cannot overdose the stuff, so dont worry about it. I'd double the recommended dose.

Repeat the Redcell every 72 hours until you see her pinking up.

I would like to see the pic of her anal/vaginal area.

Check her hoof walls carefully for cracks or splits (look between the claws).  Note any heat within the hooves.

When your hubby got her up as you described in post 7........did she fall back down or lay herself down?  If you can remember, please describe how she fell or laid down.


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## jhm47 (Dec 18, 2012)

If this animal is truly 2 years old, she has MAJOR problems.  In comparing her size with the 5 gallon bucket in the picture, I would estimate her weight at less than 300 lbs, probably closer to 250 or so.  She has either been grossly underfed, or she has major digestive problems and/or severe parasite problems.  

To begin with, what have you been feeding her?  Is her hay good, green, not dusty, and sweet smelling?  Grass hay or alfalfa?  Have you given her any grain, and how much?  Do you deworm her regularly, using different wormers with different modes of action?  Ivomec is a great product, but many areas now have worms that are immune to it.  I would suggest another wormer like Safeguard.

No matter what, I would never try to breed her.  She's definitely not of breeding quality.  Good luck!


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 18, 2012)

I have always figured her growth to be stunted but we didn't raise her ourselves so I am really not sure of all the details of her while she was on the bottle. This is what I do know.

A neighbor friend of ours had some calves that needed to be bottle raised. I don't remember exactly why but I think her mom died. Not sure about the other calves. Anyway there were 4 calves all together I think and my sister in laws boyfriend ended up building a small pen beside his house and being the one to care for them. I don't know about any problems they may have run into with the calves but she was the only one to survive. The boyfriend knows nothing about cattle and has no desire to learn either. I don't even know why he agreed to take care of them all and I wouldn't be surpised if they had something like coccidia. Anyway after she was weaned she was moved to a pen where my FIL puts the calves he is fattening up to sell. I'm not sure what her diet was like there although I imagine it consisted mostly of grain with little to no hay and no grass. A few months after she was moved there we got another bottle baby from the same neighbor and this time me and DH said we would raise it. Once we got a pen ready at our house we moved the new bottle baby to our house and because I was worried about this cow at the time too we said we were taking her as a friend. 

Once she got to our house she started getting hay and feed and I halter trained her so she could graze our yard. She always seemed small for her age though and was hard to get any real weight on. At the time we should have realized it was something. I can call the vet and see if she will at least run some blood work and fecal tests for me. Is there a way to tell from the tests if a history of coccidia is her problem. I certainly don't want to keep pulling her along if it is something that is only going to starve her to death in the end. 

All I have of the Ivermectin is the pour on kind but I think that is all the store had. Not 100% sure. Would the pour on kind work ok for us or is the injectable what we really need to do?

Is hoof trimming something I can do. Is there some reason why the hooves aren't wearing themselves down?

We gave another dose of probios today (10gms again) should I just squirt her with the whole syringe or split it into a few big doses?

We have been giving iron shots to her instead of the red cell since I was told it would be better. She got one injection a few days ago and another today since it says you have to wait a few days between doses. 

When DH got her up in that post he was holding up the majority of her weight on the back side. He lifts the back end and I pull her front end up and get her front legs under her. Usually she helps us out some and can keep her front up but only for a min or 2. Then she starts to lean and her front legs begin to buckle. At which point we lower her rear back down and shes back in the layin position. The day after she got her iron and b12 shot she really put some effort into getting up. DH said she was taking more of her weight than usual and I didn't have to help her lift her front or keep her balance. She managed that for about 3 or 4 mins and we encouraged her to try and take a step and stretch her legs but her strength ran out and she went back down. This was the first time she had ever not been lowered into a normal laying position, she just kind of layed to the side and we had to help her up like she was sposed to be but she kept herself up from there. 

She has been mainly eating grass with some feed and hay. Not feed everyday and not free choice hay. She had never been wormed which I will be the first to admit was one of our biggest mistakes in all this (not the only mistake but the biggest). She has had one worming treatment since she has been down though and we used Ivermectin. It was all the store had and the guy helping me said it would work on the blood suckers. I would like to get some cydectin in her though because I heard it works better against the immune parasites. If she never breeds that will be fine with me. She was mostly to be a pet anyway.


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## jhm47 (Dec 18, 2012)

If you're going to give her grain, give her some every day.  Cattle are not like humans.  They need to develop the correct kind of "bugs" in their digestive systems in order to develop properly.  A hit and miss feeding program is NOT good.  She should eat 4 lbs of a good quality feed each day.  Same goes with hay.  She should be getting top quality grass or alfalfa hay till she's recovered completely, and then put her back on grass, if you have good quality pasture.

She would be much better with injectible Ivomec.  If you only have access to pour on, double the dose, it won't hurt her a bit.  Be sure it gets down into her skin, and doesn't just land on the hair and run off.

And---I have raised cattle for 60 years.  Rarely have I had one recover when it's been down as long as yours has.  I don't wish to discourage you, but I wouldn't set my hopes too high on a good outcome.  Nonetheless, good luck!


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 18, 2012)

For the past week she has been getting sweet feed and hay every day. I also added in calf manna and beet pulp yesterday.  As for the hay i am have been giving her grass hay the past couple days but the quality must not be to her liking si.ce she turns her nose up at it so tom i am goin to be on the search for her some better hay. When she was up and eating grass it was mostly bahia grass. She was my lawn mower for our 5 acres so there was plenty of good green non weedy grass for her to eat. 

I will double dose her tom with wormer. I know it is probably a losing battle and me and DH have agreed on a timeline for her recovery and are always on the lookout for any sign she may be suffering. I have accepted the fact this will probably end badly. I just want to no we did all we could for her.


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## redtailgal (Dec 19, 2012)

If you have to do the pour on, take a pair of scissors and trim the hair down her spin really short (a strip about two inches wide).  Pour the ivermec on, and using a GLOVED hand, rub it down onto the skin.

I really want to reiterate that injectable is a much better way to go here......ask at your local farm store for the injectable ivermec.  I say injectable because the pour on will not affect some of the harsher worms, esp meningeal worms and is less effective on blood sucking parasites.

JHM brings up a good point about ivermec and safeguard.  Honestly, I would do the following: day one injectable ivermec, day 5 safegaurd, day 10 injectable ivermec, day 15 safeguard.

On a harsh note, make a plan now on what you will do if she starts showing signs of suffering.  Will you have a vet come put her down?  Call that vet and make sure that you can afford it, and that you know the procedure.  Do you intend to shoot her?  Find out if your gun is strong enough to make a clean kill and make sure that you know how to place the shot to allow for the cleanest kill that will not put any people in danger (they may flail about, it can be dangerous).  Are you comfortable enough to shoot her yourself?

I hope that you dont have to do this, but like JHM, I dont see a good outcome here.  She needs to be thoroughly wormed by the right wormers, and even then it's just a maybe.  Given the history that you just gave me, I would HIGHLY suspect a major coccidia infection as a calf. If she were mine, I'd keep fighting for her until she showed signs of pain or until she could no longer keep herself on her chest, at that point, I would end it for her as quickly as possible.

AND, one last thing.......you gotta stop adding things to her food.  I know that you want to get weight on her, that's good. But right now, the focus needs to be on getting her up. She is definitely not used to such a rich diet and with her being down, it is much harder for her to digest anything.  If you continue to add things to her feed, she will bloat.  Bloat is a nasty painful horrid death.  Stick with a good bovine ration for now.  Get her a good quality hay, she needs the fiber or her bowels will shut down.  Get her up and on her feet, then worry about the weight gain..  I've seen many a critter die because of good intentions.

 Encourage her to get up every day......I've seen cattle get down and decide that since they failed at getting up so many times they are just "stuck".  Dont beat her, just give her a little push.

If you have any other livestock, you need to worm them as well, as you need to do it right away.


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 19, 2012)

Thanks. You are right i do need to leave her food alone. Our goal right now is to get her up. As far as putting her down goes DH will do it. He has experience putting cows down. Ive seen him do 3 myself and they were all clean shots and immediate kills. Hopefully i can get ahold of some hood quality hay for her because what we have around here is obviously not what she is wanting. 

Thank yall for all your advice and not just saying to put her down.


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## Bossroo (Dec 19, 2012)

It may be the angle that the 1st photo was taken , however the shape of her head and her size suggests that she may be a dwarf and may have some organ abnormalities as well causing her to go down. ( Umteen years ago, while I was a Junior in High School , I worked at a University Reasearch project with a herd of 180+/- dwarf cattle for 3 years).  Since she has been down for some time now, I would consider putting her down as that prognosis is not good.


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 19, 2012)

I dont know if cows are like people where 2 average size people can have a dwarf child but I do know that both her parents were normal sized cows.


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## Bossroo (Dec 19, 2012)

Yes  !    One year someone donated a 2200 lb. Registered Purebred Hereford bull  (purchased at auction for  BIG $$$)   that sired about 20 % dwarf calves from their herd of Registered Hereford cows to Dr. Gregory at the University  for reasearch . The former owner of the bull culled or donated any cow related to this bull in their herd. The new owner also culled or donated  all of the dams of the resulting calves at a great loss.


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 19, 2012)

Hmm i had no idea. Well i spose it possible then.


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## jhm47 (Dec 19, 2012)

It's highly doubtful that this is a dwarf calf.  The dwarf Herefords have short faces with bulging foreheads.  They are also very susceptible to bloat.  The bloodlines that contained the dwarfism gene have been eradicated from the breed since the 1960's.  Here is an article on it from the Merck Veterinary Manual:

_Dyschondroplasia of genetic origin is seen in most breeds of cattle. The forms range from the so-called Dexter bulldog lethal, in which the calf is invariably stillborn, to those animals that are mildly affected.  
The brachycephalic dwarfs that were common in Hereford cattle in the 1950s largely have been eliminated through genetic selection. Short faces, bulging foreheads, prognathism, large abdomens, and short legs are characteristic. They are approximately half normal size. The dolichocephalic dwarf, most commonly seen in Angus cattle, is of the same general body conformation as the brachycephalic dwarf, except that it has a long head and does not have either a bulging forehead or prognathism. The short-faced calves are frequently referred to as snorter dwarfs because of their labored and audible breathing. Both types are of low viability and susceptible to bloat. Their carcasses are undesirable, and they are rarely kept except for research purposes. _


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## redtailgal (Dec 19, 2012)

jhm47 said:
			
		

> It's highly doubtful that this is a dwarf calf.  The dwarf Herefords have short faces with bulging foreheads.  They are also very susceptible to bloat.  The bloodlines that contained the dwarfism gene have been eradicated from the breed since the 1960's.  Here is an article on it from the Merck Veterinary Manual:
> 
> _Dyschondroplasia of genetic origin is seen in most breeds of cattle. The forms range from the so-called Dexter bulldog lethal, in which the calf is invariably stillborn, to those animals that are mildly affected.
> The brachycephalic dwarfs that were common in Hereford cattle in the 1950s largely have been eliminated through genetic selection. Short faces, bulging foreheads, prognathism, large abdomens, and short legs are characteristic. They are approximately half normal size. The dolichocephalic dwarf, most commonly seen in Angus cattle, is of the same general body conformation as the brachycephalic dwarf, except that it has a long head and does not have either a bulging forehead or prognathism. The short-faced calves are frequently referred to as snorter dwarfs because of their labored and audible breathing. Both types are of low viability and susceptible to bloat. Their carcasses are undesirable, and they are rarely kept except for research purposes. _


x2


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 19, 2012)

ok good. At least thats one less worry for me. Although it would so be my luck to end up with the only dwarf hereford left in existence . 

I tried to pay more attention to her when she tried to get up today and it seems like when she tries to do anything with her back legs it hurts her some. I don't know if it's from laying on them so long and they are sore or what. It was mainly with her first attempt of the day that I noticed when I went out to roll her so she had been layin on that one side all night. I don't know if that would make a difference about it or not though.  She just starts mooin and her ears go back and she lays her head down.


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## Shelly May (Dec 20, 2012)

Hate to say it but it still sounds like menigeral worm to me, which is rare in cows. You need to decide what 
your going to do, some meds have a withdraw period of up to 28 days, so if you give her meds you won't 
be able to eat her if she dies or you have to shoot her. But if it is menigeral worm, then you need to worm 
her with safeguard every day for 5 days straight, I would guess she weighs around 200 lbs. But time is running
out, as the menegerial worm goes into the spine and then the brain.


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## redtailgal (Dec 20, 2012)

This is how we used to treat meningeal worms at our vets office, however, safeguard has not worked very well at all recently.  We have switched to using the ivermec/safeguard routine that I mentioned before, for several reasons.  Ivermec kills the larvae stage much better than ivermec, however it does not cross the blood brain barrier.  Safeguard will cross the barrier but not without difficulty, but is not as effective on killing much of anything anymore.   I wouldnt rely on just safeguard for anything, esp not brain worms. 

I still think that she is down with a blood sucking parasite or had a major complication with coccidia in her back ground.  

Either way, this cow needs to be thoroughly wormed right away.


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 20, 2012)

She has already been wormed once (although I know we have talked about the fact that I probably under dosed her) and I we haven't had a chance to worm her yet because the weather has been rainy. The rest of the week/weekend is sposed to be nice and clear so tomorrow I will be going out to give her her haircut and she reworm her with the increased dose yall suggested. Didn't want yall to think I had forgot about you or anything. I just didn't want to try and worm her if there was the possibility that she could get wet. 

Anyway I took a video of her today when I went out to roll her and put down more hay for bedding and in the hopes that she will eat some of it. She has been refusing the hay that I have been getting (probably because the quality sucks) but I have a new bale of good quality horse hay coming tomorrow that she should like better. Anyway I also patted her down to see how she reacted and check for any sore spots. As for an update on her she seems to be doing a little better. As we were leaving the house today to run an errand I looked in her pen and saw her tryin to get herself up. It is the first time I have ever seen her tryin when I wasn't out there coaxing her and she was really puttin forth some effort. It did look like it was painful/uncomfortable but she was givin it her best. Then tonight I went out to check on her and put a blanket on her because it is pretty windy and the ground is wet and she was propped up on her front knees. It was probably because the ground is wet where she is layin even though she is on a nice bed of hay it doesn't take long for the mud to seep through. Tomorrow we will move her to a dryer place but where she is now is the only place out of the rain I could put her. Anyway she also has a sore on one of her knees but I am not sure if there is much I can do to help her with that or what to do for it.

Some video explanation. Please excuse my son. He was mad about being left in the stroller and wanted to make sure I knew. I wasn't pressing hard just patting and rubbing and looking for any twitches in her skin. I saw a few when I touched behind her front shoulder and a little down her back. She gave me the stink eye too when I touched her left leg. Some of her neck stretchin was to sniff around in the hay I had just out of her reach. If you notice anything please let me know because I am sure there is plenty I missed.


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## Shelly May (Dec 21, 2012)

X2     As redtailgal said, worm her again for serverl days in a row right away, The weather should not stop you from
taking care of a sick animal asap, she needs the ivormectric or safeguard asap, this can be administerd with a shot or
orally, you don't need to do the skin application if the weather is bad, I don't believe people should post a HELP, problem
if they have so many excuses why they can't do or won't do what advise they are given, If you can't take care of the 
livestock, SORRY but you shouldn't have livestock. If someone tries and tries and then loses the animal in the end, then 
at least they know they did everything they could to save it. I don't mean to sound harsh but just want to get the point
across, They require alot more then just a front yard of grass, to stay healthy and alive.


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## SheepGirl (Dec 21, 2012)

At least she looks alert and she's ruminating.

BTW, did you ever get a temp on her?


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 21, 2012)

She has def been getting stronger over the last couple days and even managed to raise herself off the ground today when she saw DH coming to give her her shots. It was only for a second or 2 and she was really wobbly but she did do it. Her temp was 102.6


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## redtailgal (Dec 21, 2012)

That's great.

You'll still need to worm her aggressively.

Dont forget........


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## dragonmorgan (Dec 21, 2012)

Don't worry I haven't.


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## dragonmorgan (Jan 3, 2013)

Just thought I'd update this in case anyone was wondering what happened to her and all. For the past 4 days she has been getting up on her own and started walking around. She improves a little bit more every day and today she was up every time I looked out the window and checked on her. You can tell her muscles need stretching out and restrengthening because she still walks a little stiff. Right now our main goal is to get some weight on her and make sure she has the right diet and to worm her on schedule to make sure this doesn't happen again. Thanks for all your help. We are very blessed to be one of the few happy stories out there in reference to a down cow. Just thought yall might like to know how she is.


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## Godsgrl (Jan 3, 2013)

dragonmorgan said:
			
		

> Just thought I'd update this in case anyone was wondering what happened to her and all. For the past 4 days she has been getting up on her own and started walking around. She improves a little bit more every day and today she was up every time I looked out the window and checked on her. You can tell her muscles need stretching out and restrengthening because she still walks a little stiff. Right now our main goal is to get some weight on her and make sure she has the right diet and to worm her on schedule to make sure this doesn't happen again. Thanks for all your help. We are very blessed to be one of the few happy stories out there in reference to a down cow. Just thought yall might like to know how she is.


Thank you for your reply. I have been thinking about your cow, and wondering how she was doing. So happy to hear a positive update.


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## WhiteMountainsRanch (Jan 3, 2013)

*Wow amazing! Any updated pics?  Glad to hear she is up!*


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## redtailgal (Jan 4, 2013)




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## Cricket (Jan 4, 2013)

That is great--thanks for the update!


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## dragonmorgan (Jan 4, 2013)

Thanks everyone. We still have a long road ahead but hopefully we are on the right track now.


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## WildRoseBeef (Jan 4, 2013)

Yup, she looks like crap but the biggest hurdle you've gotten over is getting her up and about.  

Let's hope you don't get some sort of relapse and she goes down again but never gets back up.  Keep up with the good work, you're doing great!!


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## dragonmorgan (Jan 4, 2013)

I'm prayin we don't run into anything like that.  I think we tackled the main reasons she went down and she's gettin some good groceries in her so she should start puttin weight on. I'm goin to start measuring her to make sure that she's gaining. She's been up and down no problem for the past 2 days though (mostly up) so hopefully that is a good sign that she will stay up.


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## redtailgal (Jan 4, 2013)

Will you tell us what you used to worm her, how much you used, and when you intend to repeat?

(that information would be VERY beneficial to someone searching for help that comes across this thread)


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## dragonmorgan (Jan 15, 2013)

I tried to find the bottle of wormer we used but DH must have thrown it out. The bottle was broke and was leaking everywhere. We only ended up worming her the one time and we gave her the recommended dose for a 400lb cow (I believe). After she went down it stayed really cold and I was afraid to reworm her because if it was cattle grub, or whatever the kind is the burrows toward the spine, I didn't want to kill them off if they had chosen to migrate to her spine with the cold weather. I had heard different things about them releasing toxins when they die that paralyses or leaving open wounds that could get infected. Since she was improving some already I was really afraid of a setback from something like that so we decided not to chance it and just reworm her when it was safer. 

What we ended up doing was getting her on some better feed and better hay. She is now eating 1 cup beet pulp (soaked in 2 cups water) 1/2 cup calf manna, 1 cup alfalfa pellets, 4-5 cups sweet feed, and 1/2 tsp minerals (all comes out to about 4.5 lbs). She gets that twice a day along with free choice hay. When she was down she got a shot of B-complex and a shot of iron every other day until her gums pinked back up and then she got the iron as directed on the bottle.

Since she has been up and eating better she has really started to improve. I measured her last week and then measured her again last weekend and she has gained 1/2 inch. I also tried to do a little amateur teeth aging on her and it looks like she still has all her milk teeth so I am thinking she is actually only about 1.5 yrs old.  

Here she is right now.





I am going to retitle this post so it can be found easier by people searching for down cow advice.


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## Godsgrl (Jan 15, 2013)

dragonmorgan said:
			
		

> I tried to find the bottle of wormer we used but DH must have thrown it out. The bottle was broke and was leaking everywhere. We only ended up worming her the one time and we gave her the recommended dose for a 400lb cow (I believe). After she went down it stayed really cold and I was afraid to reworm her because if it was cattle grub, or whatever the kind is the burrows toward the spine, I didn't want to kill them off if they had chosen to migrate to her spine with the cold weather. I had heard different things about them releasing toxins when they die that paralyses or leaving open wounds that could get infected. Since she was improving some already I was really afraid of a setback from something like that so we decided not to chance it and just reworm her when it was safer.
> 
> What we ended up doing was getting her on some better feed and better hay. She is now eating 1 cup beet pulp (soaked in 2 cups water) 1/2 cup calf manna, 1 cup alfalfa pellets, 4-5 cups sweet feed, and 1/2 tsp minerals (all comes out to about 4.5 lbs). She gets that twice a day along with free choice hay. When she was down she got a shot of B-complex and a shot of iron every other day until her gums pinked back up and then she got the iron as directed on the bottle.
> 
> ...


She looks a lot better to me, thank you for the update!!


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## redtailgal (Jan 15, 2013)

you need to follow through with that worming.......


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