Snowhunter
Ridin' The Range
So even though things are pretty much over and done with and this cow is recovering, I'm going to start things from the beginning. I want to post this for educational/informational purposes, because its not seen very often and I hope others can learn something from all this.
4ishyo Jersey cow, calved on a Mon pm, calf was pulled and dead. Cow was brought to the sale barn the next morning, not having been milked, and sat in the yard till 430 when she came through the ring. By the time I got her home, her udder was strutted and balloned out, very hot and hard as a rock.
Day 1 ( 3/28)
Here are a few pictures to give a better idea
So we took a chance in the first place, but thought plenty of massage, milking 4-6 times a day and some good care would do the trick in a week or two.
Day 2
This is the day after.. lots of massaging, milked out the 2 working quarters (right rear and left front) and got what I could out of the left rear (bad quarter) which wasn't much.
In this picture, you can see how bad the left rear quarter is, and how much it is pushing on the right rear
These show how much edema they can get
This picture shows where she had a scab. Bag balm and vit e applied liberally to keep it moist and allow it to heal. From what, I'm not sure. Keep this area in mind for later in the thread...
Day 4
After continual milking, massaging and uddermint, it was obvious something was brewing in there. We got milk samples to take to UGA to get cultured (so I would know what I was dealing with and what the bacteria was sensitive to, antibiotic wise) after the final evening milking and then infused all quarters with Colloidal Silver. 40cc in the left rear and 20CC in the left front and right rear. 10CC DMSO in each quarter following the CS, massaged up into the tissue. (the CS was continuted as a twice a day infusion into the left rear quarter only after this)
4/1-
Milking had been progressing.. she was giving about 1ish gal out of the 2 working quarters (Right rear and left front) and left rear had been slowly giving more goop. No stinky smell so I knew we weren't dealing with some kinda of major bad bacteria
This is what I was able to get out of the left rear quarter, 4/1am. Lovely, aint it?
Ended up not milking for a full 24hrs..extenuating circumstances but it seemed to be for the better.
4/2 both working quarters milked fine, and I got an entire gallon out of the bad rear quarter. At this point, I was using a canula to milk that quarter to cause less overall pain then handmilking, as she'd went to kick flies and kicked a nice big booboo over 1/2 that teat. The Colloidal Silver and DMSO seemed to have really taken hold and went to work on some of the nasties in the quarter though..
4/3- While the left rear quarter seemed to be progressing well, not as hot or hard and shrinking some, it seemed to have spread to the left front quarter (Hot, hard and tender). Had to milk that one via canula as well, but the milk was coming out fine, about 1/2 gal. At evening milking, I infused 25CC of Colloidal Silver into both left quarters after draining them as best I could.
4/4- 1 gallon out of the bad left front quarter. The teat was hot and very firm and there was an abrasion on the skin. She probably caught it with her foot laying down or kicking at flies. Got about 3C from the bad rear quarter. More CS/DMSO infusion into the left quarters and lots of massage
4/5-BIG time improvement from the bad left rear quarter. The fluid that came out didn't turn the milk from the other two quarters red or anything. The left front quarter was still hot, tender and firm, teat too, but the milk was flowing well through the canula. Also got the culture results back-Strep Uberis, a pretty mild bacteria, but very contagious. So glad Sweet Pea and everything used on her was quarantined and kept seperate. Lots of rubber gloves used as well. I had already purchased a course of Spectramast from the vet and that was also the right antibiotic the Strep was sensitive too so the treatment is 1 infusion tube per quarter per day, 5-8 days of infusions. Started the infusions 4/5PM, also infused 5CC DMSO right after to help give the antibiotic a kickstart .
4/6pm- post 1st treatment milking went well. Got almost another gallon from the bad left rear quarter. Not much from the left front, about 2oz. Got her as empty as I could and infused more Spectramast, massaged the udder and let her back out.
4/7pm-The good working right rear quarter gave 1 1/2 gal, but I was only able to get about 1oz or so between the two left quarters. Whatever was in them, was coagulated and couldn't fit through the canula, and hand milking them out wasn't an option.
4/9-am-The big scab area in the rear quarter came off and I noticed the area was VERY thin, skin wise, and bulging out a bit. Not a good sign.
pm-The spot I saw in the AM decided to start rupturing. I was still using the canulas to drain what little I could from the quarters.
4/10-Still doing what I can to drain the quarters, and doing the Spectramast and DMSO infusions with lots of massage
AM-only brought her in for morning grain. This is the teat w/the scab over 1/2 of it
You can see the small hole starting to drain.
Here is what it looked like in the PM
Her udder is a bit more even looking
Here's the underside view-note the hole was draining yellow goop
This is what I was able to get out of the hole via massaging and strategically pushing stuff towards it.
4/11-I went ahead and got to work on the left rear quarter, now that it had a hole, I could get more gunk out and leave the teat itself alone to heal up. Here is what came out
pm-lots of hot compress and massage and I got a good more bit of gunk out. The quarter is somewhat draining between sessions, on its own.
4/12-Working on the udder twice a day. Washed it gently and squirted 10CC Colloidal silver in through the hole, smothered the quarter in VitE and let her go. Last Spectramast doses given.
4/14-amGoopy nastiness from the left rear quarter, nothing out of the left front and teat cool to the touch.
pm-Noticed the hole in the left rear quarter closing up. Not good. Contemplated lancing some, but decided to leave it be. Lots of massaging and milked the 1 working right rear quarter.
4/15-not much progress. Hole almost closed, so I just wasn't sure what to do. Massaged, milked the right rear quarter and called it a night
4/16-more goop out of the rear quarter, yay! Progress! About a cup or so
You can see the obvious "shelf" on the bottom half of the left side
Tried to dress the wound with antibiotic ointment and cover w/a dressing (w a hole in the center to allow drainage) and then cover all that w/fels naptha and another dressing to draw some of the stuff out, but by the time she'd walked to her stall, it all fell off. Dang cheap tape
4/17-Sweet Pea was fed up with everything and decided she didn't want any part of it. Ok.. I can understand that. She had been a total angel through everything so far, so I wasn't going to push her any more for my ego.
4/21-decided to pull her into the stanchion and get a good look at the quarter, since it was lookin a bit wierd. She'd been fine, bright eyed and bushy tailed otherwise. The hole was about the size of a silver dollar and there was a very obvious mass in that quarter trying to fit out of a hole way too small for it to do so successfuly. Nothing like glovin up and stickin yer fingers in a cows udder, a hole no less, to give ya the ickies!
4/22-decided the mass needed to come out. It wasn't doing any good staying in there and wasn't coming out on its own anytime soon.
We got Sweet Pea out and into the headgate we use to work the beef cows on. Sturdier, easier to reach where I needed and plenty of airflow and sunglight.
This is what the hole looked like (The dangley from the teat is the scab coming off and healthy tissue underneath yay!)
I took a sterile scalpel and made 4 incisions so there was more give to help get the mass out. There was plenty of blood, but she didn't have much feeling in the tissue I cut, didn't even swat her tail.
I started feeling around inside and gently but firmly pulling out the mas tissue in bits and pieces
Then, some of the goo started flowing around and there was a wave of pressure as the mass downshifted and was trying to come out on its own
After about 45 minutes I had got a bunch of stuff out, and then the last sections "fell" from the top half of the quarter
This is the last big piece that came out, and you can see the goo and such that was just sitting in the quarter, with no where to go due to the size of the mass
Here's everything that came out
We washed everything out, flushed the quarter and slathered ointment on.
Now to keep things flushed out and clean so she can get healed up.
Here's a couple videos
Here is the hole yesterday evening. Gotta keep it open for drainage, otherwise, I'm just gentle washing with warm water, flushing the quarter with saline and dabbing antibiotic ointment to keep things from gettin infected.
4ishyo Jersey cow, calved on a Mon pm, calf was pulled and dead. Cow was brought to the sale barn the next morning, not having been milked, and sat in the yard till 430 when she came through the ring. By the time I got her home, her udder was strutted and balloned out, very hot and hard as a rock.
Day 1 ( 3/28)
Here are a few pictures to give a better idea
So we took a chance in the first place, but thought plenty of massage, milking 4-6 times a day and some good care would do the trick in a week or two.
Day 2
This is the day after.. lots of massaging, milked out the 2 working quarters (right rear and left front) and got what I could out of the left rear (bad quarter) which wasn't much.
In this picture, you can see how bad the left rear quarter is, and how much it is pushing on the right rear
These show how much edema they can get
This picture shows where she had a scab. Bag balm and vit e applied liberally to keep it moist and allow it to heal. From what, I'm not sure. Keep this area in mind for later in the thread...
Day 4
After continual milking, massaging and uddermint, it was obvious something was brewing in there. We got milk samples to take to UGA to get cultured (so I would know what I was dealing with and what the bacteria was sensitive to, antibiotic wise) after the final evening milking and then infused all quarters with Colloidal Silver. 40cc in the left rear and 20CC in the left front and right rear. 10CC DMSO in each quarter following the CS, massaged up into the tissue. (the CS was continuted as a twice a day infusion into the left rear quarter only after this)
4/1-
Milking had been progressing.. she was giving about 1ish gal out of the 2 working quarters (Right rear and left front) and left rear had been slowly giving more goop. No stinky smell so I knew we weren't dealing with some kinda of major bad bacteria
This is what I was able to get out of the left rear quarter, 4/1am. Lovely, aint it?
Ended up not milking for a full 24hrs..extenuating circumstances but it seemed to be for the better.
4/2 both working quarters milked fine, and I got an entire gallon out of the bad rear quarter. At this point, I was using a canula to milk that quarter to cause less overall pain then handmilking, as she'd went to kick flies and kicked a nice big booboo over 1/2 that teat. The Colloidal Silver and DMSO seemed to have really taken hold and went to work on some of the nasties in the quarter though..
4/3- While the left rear quarter seemed to be progressing well, not as hot or hard and shrinking some, it seemed to have spread to the left front quarter (Hot, hard and tender). Had to milk that one via canula as well, but the milk was coming out fine, about 1/2 gal. At evening milking, I infused 25CC of Colloidal Silver into both left quarters after draining them as best I could.
4/4- 1 gallon out of the bad left front quarter. The teat was hot and very firm and there was an abrasion on the skin. She probably caught it with her foot laying down or kicking at flies. Got about 3C from the bad rear quarter. More CS/DMSO infusion into the left quarters and lots of massage
4/5-BIG time improvement from the bad left rear quarter. The fluid that came out didn't turn the milk from the other two quarters red or anything. The left front quarter was still hot, tender and firm, teat too, but the milk was flowing well through the canula. Also got the culture results back-Strep Uberis, a pretty mild bacteria, but very contagious. So glad Sweet Pea and everything used on her was quarantined and kept seperate. Lots of rubber gloves used as well. I had already purchased a course of Spectramast from the vet and that was also the right antibiotic the Strep was sensitive too so the treatment is 1 infusion tube per quarter per day, 5-8 days of infusions. Started the infusions 4/5PM, also infused 5CC DMSO right after to help give the antibiotic a kickstart .
4/6pm- post 1st treatment milking went well. Got almost another gallon from the bad left rear quarter. Not much from the left front, about 2oz. Got her as empty as I could and infused more Spectramast, massaged the udder and let her back out.
4/7pm-The good working right rear quarter gave 1 1/2 gal, but I was only able to get about 1oz or so between the two left quarters. Whatever was in them, was coagulated and couldn't fit through the canula, and hand milking them out wasn't an option.
4/9-am-The big scab area in the rear quarter came off and I noticed the area was VERY thin, skin wise, and bulging out a bit. Not a good sign.
pm-The spot I saw in the AM decided to start rupturing. I was still using the canulas to drain what little I could from the quarters.
4/10-Still doing what I can to drain the quarters, and doing the Spectramast and DMSO infusions with lots of massage
AM-only brought her in for morning grain. This is the teat w/the scab over 1/2 of it
You can see the small hole starting to drain.
Here is what it looked like in the PM
Her udder is a bit more even looking
Here's the underside view-note the hole was draining yellow goop
This is what I was able to get out of the hole via massaging and strategically pushing stuff towards it.
4/11-I went ahead and got to work on the left rear quarter, now that it had a hole, I could get more gunk out and leave the teat itself alone to heal up. Here is what came out
pm-lots of hot compress and massage and I got a good more bit of gunk out. The quarter is somewhat draining between sessions, on its own.
4/12-Working on the udder twice a day. Washed it gently and squirted 10CC Colloidal silver in through the hole, smothered the quarter in VitE and let her go. Last Spectramast doses given.
4/14-amGoopy nastiness from the left rear quarter, nothing out of the left front and teat cool to the touch.
pm-Noticed the hole in the left rear quarter closing up. Not good. Contemplated lancing some, but decided to leave it be. Lots of massaging and milked the 1 working right rear quarter.
4/15-not much progress. Hole almost closed, so I just wasn't sure what to do. Massaged, milked the right rear quarter and called it a night
4/16-more goop out of the rear quarter, yay! Progress! About a cup or so
You can see the obvious "shelf" on the bottom half of the left side
Tried to dress the wound with antibiotic ointment and cover w/a dressing (w a hole in the center to allow drainage) and then cover all that w/fels naptha and another dressing to draw some of the stuff out, but by the time she'd walked to her stall, it all fell off. Dang cheap tape
4/17-Sweet Pea was fed up with everything and decided she didn't want any part of it. Ok.. I can understand that. She had been a total angel through everything so far, so I wasn't going to push her any more for my ego.
4/21-decided to pull her into the stanchion and get a good look at the quarter, since it was lookin a bit wierd. She'd been fine, bright eyed and bushy tailed otherwise. The hole was about the size of a silver dollar and there was a very obvious mass in that quarter trying to fit out of a hole way too small for it to do so successfuly. Nothing like glovin up and stickin yer fingers in a cows udder, a hole no less, to give ya the ickies!
4/22-decided the mass needed to come out. It wasn't doing any good staying in there and wasn't coming out on its own anytime soon.
We got Sweet Pea out and into the headgate we use to work the beef cows on. Sturdier, easier to reach where I needed and plenty of airflow and sunglight.
This is what the hole looked like (The dangley from the teat is the scab coming off and healthy tissue underneath yay!)
I took a sterile scalpel and made 4 incisions so there was more give to help get the mass out. There was plenty of blood, but she didn't have much feeling in the tissue I cut, didn't even swat her tail.
I started feeling around inside and gently but firmly pulling out the mas tissue in bits and pieces
Then, some of the goo started flowing around and there was a wave of pressure as the mass downshifted and was trying to come out on its own
After about 45 minutes I had got a bunch of stuff out, and then the last sections "fell" from the top half of the quarter
This is the last big piece that came out, and you can see the goo and such that was just sitting in the quarter, with no where to go due to the size of the mass
Here's everything that came out
We washed everything out, flushed the quarter and slathered ointment on.
Now to keep things flushed out and clean so she can get healed up.
Here's a couple videos
Here is the hole yesterday evening. Gotta keep it open for drainage, otherwise, I'm just gentle washing with warm water, flushing the quarter with saline and dabbing antibiotic ointment to keep things from gettin infected.
