Post by cindy04 on May 13, 2007 0:28:44 GMT -5
As most know Gracie calved on May 8th early morning with no complications. We unfortunately let our guard down for just a little sleep that night, as we had been on calf watch for some time because she was late and we lost our heifer's calf a few days earlier within 3 minutes of birth. For two weeks we made round the clock visits to the barn, neighbors and friends stood watch during the day and we had a monitor next to the bed.
To catch up on this story you will have to read my last 3 threads as this story is rather lengthy.
Our third Vet visit was early morning on the 10th. She went down around 3am, 9 hours after she was up the first time. Both times she went down we drenched her immediately and this brought her head around and did make her more alert. When the vet arrived we once again had to give her 2 bottles of Cal/Mag IV. One or one and a half bottles would not work. This time she got up, but the MF and treatment had taken more of a toll on her body. She was depressed, very sick, and had little interest in food or water. The Vet and I had plenty of time to talk and he explained a lot to me in both laymen and technical terms about MF and her body producing calcium for HER and not the milk.Well I may not be the brightest light on the Ferris wheel, but some of this I did understand. To make a long story short her ------ thyroid was not producing calcium at this time. Can't remember the ---- word, sorry. We determined that she would probably crash again in about 9 hours. A friend (he milks for us a lot) and I had to give her a Cal/Mag injection IP (abdominal cavity) at 2pm. For those of you that have never done this, I hope that you never have to. I use to always think that I wanted to be a Veterinarian. NEVER again will I say or even think that, or I'm simply turning into a big baby with age. Any how she lived through that, but was still very depressed, avoided us of course, and was not eating/drinking. The biggest thing that sent up the red flag was the fact that she was not visiting her calf. VERY BAD SIGN. Sara and I had made up our minds that if she went down again, that we would not let her suffer any longer.
Well, we were told not to let calf nurse or to milk at all until she was more stable. Well...... we don't always color inside the lines. ;)We waited till late at night, let Gracie in with her baby, let her sniff and touch him, slipped him around back, and let nature take it's course for about 4 minutes. We pulled away one bucking, fit throwing little bull calf, but finally had a cow with a little more will to live. She almost immediately started drinking and eating small bites of hay. We offered grain, alfalfa, grass hay, apples, apple sauce, horse treats, all of these being her favorites. The only thing she really wanted was grass hay, and small bites of grass in a small area right outside the barn. We also started giving small doses of CAL/Mag paste or gel, and some awesome stuff (natural calcium) that we got from Jennifer (real-food family). We had never met in person, but she came by on Thursday with this and some paste as everyone around here was out of it or did not stock it. Sara actually found 2 tubes in Platte City but the Vet would only part with 2 tubes as he had been experiencing an outbreak of MF this year. Last night was the last time we gave her anything as her improvement has been rapid once we reintroduced her to the baby for minutes at a time.
Now here is the real kicker. Her bag was HUGE and we were told not to milk. Well we did let that calf suck a couple of times, but as I said for only a few minutes. Last night I was worried to death about that bag, but did not feel heat, lumps, or swelling. I pulled up my seat and milked about 3/4 of a gallon. Grace started licking me and also started nudging the bucket. I put the bucket closer and she drank all the milk. Today we milked her pretty well out and she drank ALL of it again. We have not given her any treatment with paste, drench or natural cal since yesterday afternoon. She is looking GREAT! For two days she looked ready to die.
We had no choice but to give small doses of cal/mag to prevent her from crashing again, and it obviously worked. We have been doing research and discovered many things that can be done differently to avoid MF or at least minimize it. Gracie's udder DID NOT get large until she delivered. We had a very early, lush green spring, then it froze (in the 20's)for two weeks, then back to lush green. These are just a couple of the negative factors in our case.
Do any of you think that the reason she is drinking her own milk, is to ward off Mastitis? Amazingly we do not have any, lumps, blood, stringy puss or such yet.
Thank you all once again, for all of your support and kind words.
Cindy
To catch up on this story you will have to read my last 3 threads as this story is rather lengthy.
Our third Vet visit was early morning on the 10th. She went down around 3am, 9 hours after she was up the first time. Both times she went down we drenched her immediately and this brought her head around and did make her more alert. When the vet arrived we once again had to give her 2 bottles of Cal/Mag IV. One or one and a half bottles would not work. This time she got up, but the MF and treatment had taken more of a toll on her body. She was depressed, very sick, and had little interest in food or water. The Vet and I had plenty of time to talk and he explained a lot to me in both laymen and technical terms about MF and her body producing calcium for HER and not the milk.Well I may not be the brightest light on the Ferris wheel, but some of this I did understand. To make a long story short her ------ thyroid was not producing calcium at this time. Can't remember the ---- word, sorry. We determined that she would probably crash again in about 9 hours. A friend (he milks for us a lot) and I had to give her a Cal/Mag injection IP (abdominal cavity) at 2pm. For those of you that have never done this, I hope that you never have to. I use to always think that I wanted to be a Veterinarian. NEVER again will I say or even think that, or I'm simply turning into a big baby with age. Any how she lived through that, but was still very depressed, avoided us of course, and was not eating/drinking. The biggest thing that sent up the red flag was the fact that she was not visiting her calf. VERY BAD SIGN. Sara and I had made up our minds that if she went down again, that we would not let her suffer any longer.
Well, we were told not to let calf nurse or to milk at all until she was more stable. Well...... we don't always color inside the lines. ;)We waited till late at night, let Gracie in with her baby, let her sniff and touch him, slipped him around back, and let nature take it's course for about 4 minutes. We pulled away one bucking, fit throwing little bull calf, but finally had a cow with a little more will to live. She almost immediately started drinking and eating small bites of hay. We offered grain, alfalfa, grass hay, apples, apple sauce, horse treats, all of these being her favorites. The only thing she really wanted was grass hay, and small bites of grass in a small area right outside the barn. We also started giving small doses of CAL/Mag paste or gel, and some awesome stuff (natural calcium) that we got from Jennifer (real-food family). We had never met in person, but she came by on Thursday with this and some paste as everyone around here was out of it or did not stock it. Sara actually found 2 tubes in Platte City but the Vet would only part with 2 tubes as he had been experiencing an outbreak of MF this year. Last night was the last time we gave her anything as her improvement has been rapid once we reintroduced her to the baby for minutes at a time.
Now here is the real kicker. Her bag was HUGE and we were told not to milk. Well we did let that calf suck a couple of times, but as I said for only a few minutes. Last night I was worried to death about that bag, but did not feel heat, lumps, or swelling. I pulled up my seat and milked about 3/4 of a gallon. Grace started licking me and also started nudging the bucket. I put the bucket closer and she drank all the milk. Today we milked her pretty well out and she drank ALL of it again. We have not given her any treatment with paste, drench or natural cal since yesterday afternoon. She is looking GREAT! For two days she looked ready to die.
We had no choice but to give small doses of cal/mag to prevent her from crashing again, and it obviously worked. We have been doing research and discovered many things that can be done differently to avoid MF or at least minimize it. Gracie's udder DID NOT get large until she delivered. We had a very early, lush green spring, then it froze (in the 20's)for two weeks, then back to lush green. These are just a couple of the negative factors in our case.
Do any of you think that the reason she is drinking her own milk, is to ward off Mastitis? Amazingly we do not have any, lumps, blood, stringy puss or such yet.
Thank you all once again, for all of your support and kind words.
Cindy