Post by Larkview on Jun 16, 2024 11:57:21 GMT -5
I believe that Hazel is a hydrops cow. We had thought she was carrying twins. She went into labor 6 weeks early 8 days ago. Labor didn’t progress and we have a good estimation that she lost around 30-40 gallons of fluid in an hour. The vet came and pulled the dead calf. He estimated the calf had been dead for a few weeks.
She handled labor and delivery well. Her appetite wasn’t great but we were able to keep her eating some. We starting giving her banamine to help with the pain and that helped with her appetite. Oxytocin to help her clean out.
Cleaned out day 3.
Milking twice a day and milk was normal.
Appetite worsening.
On day 5 she spiked a 103 fever and we had the vet out. He did a uterine lavage and about 2 gallons of bad fluid came out. Treated with a flush, Exceed, started lute and continued with the banamine. Also drenched her. Prop. Glycol. Gave IV Calcium.
Appetite still worsening. Fever and cold ears. Called the vet again. He had just gotten all her testing back from her and the calf. Everything is negative. Checked her electrolytes and everything was good. Calcium was a little low prior to calcium IV. But because of her looking so uncomfortable we opted to give her a last ditch effort dose of Dex. We were trying to mask the pain enough to get her to eat.
Day 8. She has not eaten hay or grass in days. We are hand feeding her whatever she will eat hourly. Be it leaves, branches, carrots and her favorite since being sick, rabbit food. But it is literally only handfuls at a time. Nothing substantial. She has continued to drink water well and poop and pee. We can now see what looks like pockets of fluid growing in her brisket, behind her elbows and up her abdomen. She can move around and lay down and get back up on her own. Temps have been great. She wants to eat. She TRIES to eat. But it appears that something is interfering with her ability to eat. She has stopped making pm milk.
So my question is, do any of you know if we can get her body to stop making all this excess fluid? Because this is horrendous. We are basically watching her starve to death or possibly drown despite her desire to eat and her perkiness. She hasn’t given up and is even at the mineral feeder right now. But she is getting so weak. And we are certainly masking a lot of her pain with meds and I know that she would not be as perky if we stopped medication. But our hope was to medicate until she started eating well. But that seems impossible with all this excess fluid.
She handled labor and delivery well. Her appetite wasn’t great but we were able to keep her eating some. We starting giving her banamine to help with the pain and that helped with her appetite. Oxytocin to help her clean out.
Cleaned out day 3.
Milking twice a day and milk was normal.
Appetite worsening.
On day 5 she spiked a 103 fever and we had the vet out. He did a uterine lavage and about 2 gallons of bad fluid came out. Treated with a flush, Exceed, started lute and continued with the banamine. Also drenched her. Prop. Glycol. Gave IV Calcium.
Appetite still worsening. Fever and cold ears. Called the vet again. He had just gotten all her testing back from her and the calf. Everything is negative. Checked her electrolytes and everything was good. Calcium was a little low prior to calcium IV. But because of her looking so uncomfortable we opted to give her a last ditch effort dose of Dex. We were trying to mask the pain enough to get her to eat.
Day 8. She has not eaten hay or grass in days. We are hand feeding her whatever she will eat hourly. Be it leaves, branches, carrots and her favorite since being sick, rabbit food. But it is literally only handfuls at a time. Nothing substantial. She has continued to drink water well and poop and pee. We can now see what looks like pockets of fluid growing in her brisket, behind her elbows and up her abdomen. She can move around and lay down and get back up on her own. Temps have been great. She wants to eat. She TRIES to eat. But it appears that something is interfering with her ability to eat. She has stopped making pm milk.
So my question is, do any of you know if we can get her body to stop making all this excess fluid? Because this is horrendous. We are basically watching her starve to death or possibly drown despite her desire to eat and her perkiness. She hasn’t given up and is even at the mineral feeder right now. But she is getting so weak. And we are certainly masking a lot of her pain with meds and I know that she would not be as perky if we stopped medication. But our hope was to medicate until she started eating well. But that seems impossible with all this excess fluid.