Post by tripleh on Sept 15, 2012 8:40:02 GMT -5
Hello folks... I know it has been an age since I have posted but this really has been a zooming summer... no make that year! I have a major problem and decision to make with my cow Lainey and would love some of your input, thoughts and wisdom before I make my decision Please bear with me it is a bit of a long post...
Some of you may recal that last year when Lainey calved, a few days afterwards she tore and degloved on of her teats. I had to go to Alaska to teach so my husband had to take care of the mastitis that subsequently came on. He did a grand job. We tried drying up that quarter with limited sucess so finally just let the calf keep it milked down... with the limited amount of milk it was producing. Later on it did dry up... for a while... then it started developing abcesses. A couple were drained and taken care of and although the quarter looked "lumpy", she had no discomfort, no other health probelms so everyone assumed the quarter was dry and lost.
Now to my problem! She is due to clave in about a month. All of a sudden... and I mean with in 2 days... her lumpy quarter started to enlarge a little and then literally overnight, the rear quarter behind it became huge, warm and definitly has mastitis! The tow other quarters on her right hand side are still in the dry mode... loose, floppy etc.
I immediatly went to work on the large quarters... can get nothing out of the lumpy one... the other I was able to massage and get a goodly amount out. I had thought last year of having the vet kill the lumpy quarter but thought since it dried up it would either be OK when she came to milk or just would not produce... the vet thought it would not produce.
I called the vet yesterday and asked if we could kill the lumpy quarter as I am sure this is where my problems lie... the vet said she would not do it unless there was gangrene... which there is not. She said I should cull Lainey... which I may have to do... but since she is only a month away from calving I thought if I could get the mastitis taken care of she could at least raise her calf. So... the vet is having me give antibiotics sytemically as well as dry cow teat infusions of the 2 affected quarters starting today.
Sorry this is such a long post... I am wondering if anyone else has ahd a similar problem. Is it too late to try to kill the lumpy quarter? If so how would you do it... with chlorohexidine? Any suggestions would be VERY welcome!
Some of you may recal that last year when Lainey calved, a few days afterwards she tore and degloved on of her teats. I had to go to Alaska to teach so my husband had to take care of the mastitis that subsequently came on. He did a grand job. We tried drying up that quarter with limited sucess so finally just let the calf keep it milked down... with the limited amount of milk it was producing. Later on it did dry up... for a while... then it started developing abcesses. A couple were drained and taken care of and although the quarter looked "lumpy", she had no discomfort, no other health probelms so everyone assumed the quarter was dry and lost.
Now to my problem! She is due to clave in about a month. All of a sudden... and I mean with in 2 days... her lumpy quarter started to enlarge a little and then literally overnight, the rear quarter behind it became huge, warm and definitly has mastitis! The tow other quarters on her right hand side are still in the dry mode... loose, floppy etc.
I immediatly went to work on the large quarters... can get nothing out of the lumpy one... the other I was able to massage and get a goodly amount out. I had thought last year of having the vet kill the lumpy quarter but thought since it dried up it would either be OK when she came to milk or just would not produce... the vet thought it would not produce.
I called the vet yesterday and asked if we could kill the lumpy quarter as I am sure this is where my problems lie... the vet said she would not do it unless there was gangrene... which there is not. She said I should cull Lainey... which I may have to do... but since she is only a month away from calving I thought if I could get the mastitis taken care of she could at least raise her calf. So... the vet is having me give antibiotics sytemically as well as dry cow teat infusions of the 2 affected quarters starting today.
Sorry this is such a long post... I am wondering if anyone else has ahd a similar problem. Is it too late to try to kill the lumpy quarter? If so how would you do it... with chlorohexidine? Any suggestions would be VERY welcome!