Post by frogHOLR on May 31, 2011 1:37:07 GMT -5
I'm not sure this is truly a 911 issue, but I wanted to get some feedback to see what others think. I went to milk Abbey this evening and found THIS mess. It looks like she dragged her edematous quarter over something and then punctured it. She lives in the woods, so there's no telling where this happened or what did it. She walks right through brambles and vine maple with not a care in the world. However, she's never come to the barn with anything like this. I scrubbed it out thoroughly with chlorhexidine soaked washcloths until they were bloody but clean, and then I sprayed Vetericyn all over it and in it. The gash is only about a 1/2 inch deep and you can see the mammary tissue beneath the skin but I don't THINK the mammary gland is opened (it's not leaking milk all over the place). I believe it mostly cut through all of her edema - which is MUCH better now that it's able to leak serum out. Gee, I suppose if I were looking for a bright side, I could say that I found a cure for edema. . . . I left her with the calf to nurse that quarter as she totally held up on me tonight from all the messing around. I only got 9 pounds of milk and I usually get 26. After a couple of hours I resprayed the Vetericyn on it and let her back outside in hopes that she'll find a clean spot to lay down in. She's got the runny grass-poop right now and I was afraid if I left her inside she'd just fill her stall with that and THEN lay down!
Has anyone else ever had a wound like this and did it heal up OK? I feel pretty good that it's not as bad as it could be - my initial look made my stomach turn and I thought I was going to faint! Once I got it cleaned up I realized that it wasn't like a 4 inch puncture or a ripped off teat, etc. Actually, once it stops leaking the serum, I should be able to keep her milked out without too much trouble. <fingers crossed!> I mostly needed to vent to other cow people who would understand my horror and sympathise with me! Thanks all!
Has anyone else ever had a wound like this and did it heal up OK? I feel pretty good that it's not as bad as it could be - my initial look made my stomach turn and I thought I was going to faint! Once I got it cleaned up I realized that it wasn't like a 4 inch puncture or a ripped off teat, etc. Actually, once it stops leaking the serum, I should be able to keep her milked out without too much trouble. <fingers crossed!> I mostly needed to vent to other cow people who would understand my horror and sympathise with me! Thanks all!