Post by Lannie on Nov 14, 2011 15:00:52 GMT -5
WHAT in the world could be causing this?? I just don't get it.
Ever since her last bout with "whatever," when we treated her for everything under the sun, she's been fine. She's had a great appetite, her milk came back (for a while, then I dried her off when her calf left) she's been having regular heats, she gained most of the weight back that she lost when she was sick...
And then Saturday I noticed she was looking skinny again. It happens so QUICK. The girls have been pretty much cleaning up their hay every feeding, so I thought I should just put more out. Cricket's fat and happy and not having any troubles at all, so I thought maybe she was hogging the hay. But Sunday morning, the hay feeder was still pretty full, and Bandit was out lying near the tree rows instead of being up in the barn waiting for breakfast. I saw her there, and she was chewing her cud, so I thought maybe she'd just had enough to eat, but then I noticed a "bump" that shouldn't be there, so I walked out to check on her. It was her hipbone sticking out. I made her get up and was horrified to see concavities the size of basketballs on both sides.
I brought her in the barn and put some fresh (un-slobbered-on) hay in the feeder, and some pellets, and she nibbled a few of the pellets, lipped a few wisps of hay, then went back out and laid down by the trees again.
After I milked Cricket I went in and told Rich Bandit was sick again and maybe I needed to give her some Dex and B-complex again. That pulled her out of it last time. So we went back out, but she knew something was up, so she ran off and wouldn't let me catch her. She spent most of the day lying down, not cudding, with her chin on the ground, but every time I went out to see her, she'd get up and move off. I had to wait until yesterday evening, and she was even MORE skinny. She looked completely emaciated. I put her in the stanchion and gave her the Dex shot first, then the B-complex, and she thrashed around but didn't poop. I honestly don't think there was any poop IN her at that point.
We stayed out in the barn afterward and I gave her some more hay and pellets, and after about 10 minutes, she started eating. Then she started eating like she meant it. After half an hour of that (she was still eating), we went back inside.
This morning, she was up and nibbling at the last of the pellets in the pile I'd put outside last night. I tossed her a flake of hay and she ate that while I milked Cricket, then I let her into the barn and put more hay in the big feeder (it still had a bunch of hay in it, so it wasn't empty), which she tore into. Her rumen today looks "full," or at least not completely empty, although she still has a hollow on her right side.
Remember, she's half Hereford, and she's NEVER had a hollow in all the years I've had her. The first time it happened was when she got sick a couple months ago, and then again this weekend.
I'm wondering if she's not getting enough salt. She'd been going through the baking soda like nobody's business since her last episode of ketosis, but started slacking off a week or so ago. I didn't think anything of it, I just figured that for whatever reason, she didn't need it anymore. I'm still keeping the dish filled, but I don't have to fill it every day now. Then this morning on the news I saw a piece (about people, not cows) that said insufficient salt intake could bring on ketotic episodes. But then if that were the case, wouldn't Cricket also be having problems? Rich has been going to make a mineral feeder for them so I can put minerals, baking soda AND salt in, but he's been getting our wood in for the winter and it got put on the back burner. He's going out today to do that, though. And since we got our GOOD hay, the minerals and baking soda both have been lasting longer. I figured the hay was supplying some of whatever they were scarfing down in the minerals.
I've been looking up symptoms of all the horrible diseases I can think of that cows might get, and none of them seem to fit her. I'm ready to take her in to the vet and DEMAND they test her for something, but I don't know what to tell them to test for. None of the vets I talked to about her think there's anything wrong with her because she IS still eating. But she's not eating enough. Well, today she is, but why do I have to keep giving her these shots to keep her eating? There has to be an underlying reason, and I can't figure out what it is.
(Even Rich is worried - he said we're keeping the next heifer calf that's born, just in case. I don't even want to GO there!)
Help?
~Lannie
Ever since her last bout with "whatever," when we treated her for everything under the sun, she's been fine. She's had a great appetite, her milk came back (for a while, then I dried her off when her calf left) she's been having regular heats, she gained most of the weight back that she lost when she was sick...
And then Saturday I noticed she was looking skinny again. It happens so QUICK. The girls have been pretty much cleaning up their hay every feeding, so I thought I should just put more out. Cricket's fat and happy and not having any troubles at all, so I thought maybe she was hogging the hay. But Sunday morning, the hay feeder was still pretty full, and Bandit was out lying near the tree rows instead of being up in the barn waiting for breakfast. I saw her there, and she was chewing her cud, so I thought maybe she'd just had enough to eat, but then I noticed a "bump" that shouldn't be there, so I walked out to check on her. It was her hipbone sticking out. I made her get up and was horrified to see concavities the size of basketballs on both sides.
I brought her in the barn and put some fresh (un-slobbered-on) hay in the feeder, and some pellets, and she nibbled a few of the pellets, lipped a few wisps of hay, then went back out and laid down by the trees again.
After I milked Cricket I went in and told Rich Bandit was sick again and maybe I needed to give her some Dex and B-complex again. That pulled her out of it last time. So we went back out, but she knew something was up, so she ran off and wouldn't let me catch her. She spent most of the day lying down, not cudding, with her chin on the ground, but every time I went out to see her, she'd get up and move off. I had to wait until yesterday evening, and she was even MORE skinny. She looked completely emaciated. I put her in the stanchion and gave her the Dex shot first, then the B-complex, and she thrashed around but didn't poop. I honestly don't think there was any poop IN her at that point.
We stayed out in the barn afterward and I gave her some more hay and pellets, and after about 10 minutes, she started eating. Then she started eating like she meant it. After half an hour of that (she was still eating), we went back inside.
This morning, she was up and nibbling at the last of the pellets in the pile I'd put outside last night. I tossed her a flake of hay and she ate that while I milked Cricket, then I let her into the barn and put more hay in the big feeder (it still had a bunch of hay in it, so it wasn't empty), which she tore into. Her rumen today looks "full," or at least not completely empty, although she still has a hollow on her right side.
Remember, she's half Hereford, and she's NEVER had a hollow in all the years I've had her. The first time it happened was when she got sick a couple months ago, and then again this weekend.
I'm wondering if she's not getting enough salt. She'd been going through the baking soda like nobody's business since her last episode of ketosis, but started slacking off a week or so ago. I didn't think anything of it, I just figured that for whatever reason, she didn't need it anymore. I'm still keeping the dish filled, but I don't have to fill it every day now. Then this morning on the news I saw a piece (about people, not cows) that said insufficient salt intake could bring on ketotic episodes. But then if that were the case, wouldn't Cricket also be having problems? Rich has been going to make a mineral feeder for them so I can put minerals, baking soda AND salt in, but he's been getting our wood in for the winter and it got put on the back burner. He's going out today to do that, though. And since we got our GOOD hay, the minerals and baking soda both have been lasting longer. I figured the hay was supplying some of whatever they were scarfing down in the minerals.
I've been looking up symptoms of all the horrible diseases I can think of that cows might get, and none of them seem to fit her. I'm ready to take her in to the vet and DEMAND they test her for something, but I don't know what to tell them to test for. None of the vets I talked to about her think there's anything wrong with her because she IS still eating. But she's not eating enough. Well, today she is, but why do I have to keep giving her these shots to keep her eating? There has to be an underlying reason, and I can't figure out what it is.
(Even Rich is worried - he said we're keeping the next heifer calf that's born, just in case. I don't even want to GO there!)
Help?
~Lannie