Post by oregonnewbie on Jul 1, 2010 10:43:19 GMT -5
Hello. While I am waiting to get a call back from the vet I thought I'd get some advice from experienced people. My husband and I are very new to this.
We got a week old calf on Tuesday afternoon as a companion for our adult dairy cow. When we went in to milk that evening, about 5 hours later, one quarter was engorged and very firm. That quarter (the left hind) for us is the most difficult to milk and always feels like there is more tissue than the other quarters, but the CMT had been normal until then. That evening the CMT in that 1/4 was liquid-gel. Tanya is eating fine, no fever, and the quarter is not painful when I massage it. Clearly the calf had nursed on the other quarters b/c they were virtually empty. The calf does seem to prefer the right quarters, but with coaxing I can get him on briefly the left ones.
I milked the affected one, infused w/ Cepharin sodium and came back that night to warm compress it and massage. There was no milk to express that night. In the morning (yesterday) the calf nursed from it and it was much softer, tho still some lumps in there.
I massaged/compressed/milked what I could get out- a scant amount with no chunks, blood or pain- 4x yesterday. This morning is the same. The test is still a liquid-gel, nothing is really better, nothing is worse.
I think I should culture it to be certain this is bacterial and to determine the best abx. I would prefer to avoid systemic abx if possible.
I have a veterinary homeopathic remedy manual that is slightly overwhelming and I guess I could try one of those while I am waiting.
Any advice is appreciated! I am worried I am taking too long to get this resolved.
Thanks, Wendy in Oregon
We got a week old calf on Tuesday afternoon as a companion for our adult dairy cow. When we went in to milk that evening, about 5 hours later, one quarter was engorged and very firm. That quarter (the left hind) for us is the most difficult to milk and always feels like there is more tissue than the other quarters, but the CMT had been normal until then. That evening the CMT in that 1/4 was liquid-gel. Tanya is eating fine, no fever, and the quarter is not painful when I massage it. Clearly the calf had nursed on the other quarters b/c they were virtually empty. The calf does seem to prefer the right quarters, but with coaxing I can get him on briefly the left ones.
I milked the affected one, infused w/ Cepharin sodium and came back that night to warm compress it and massage. There was no milk to express that night. In the morning (yesterday) the calf nursed from it and it was much softer, tho still some lumps in there.
I massaged/compressed/milked what I could get out- a scant amount with no chunks, blood or pain- 4x yesterday. This morning is the same. The test is still a liquid-gel, nothing is really better, nothing is worse.
I think I should culture it to be certain this is bacterial and to determine the best abx. I would prefer to avoid systemic abx if possible.
I have a veterinary homeopathic remedy manual that is slightly overwhelming and I guess I could try one of those while I am waiting.
Any advice is appreciated! I am worried I am taking too long to get this resolved.
Thanks, Wendy in Oregon