Post by sable on Mar 18, 2016 23:52:02 GMT -5
I have a 5yr old Jersey cow that freshened on 2/17. Everything seemed to be going well until 2/29 when I came home to find her laying down at the barn by herself when the rest of the herd were out grazing. I had to pester her to get up, and when she did she staggered. I called my vet/boss, who told me to give 4 CMPK boluses, followed by 4 more later that day. She seemed better, until 3/4 when I looked outside to see her down with her head under her body. I got her up and into the barn, and gave a bottle of CMPK IV. Again, she seemed back to normal. On 3/7 I got home to find her looking droopy as she had before, and not interested in eating. She had a dull, vacant expression and seemed in a daze. I accidentally pushed her over moving her to the barn. Her ears were cold. I began giving her more boluses, but she was nodding off which was alarming, so I gave her another IV of CMPK. Yet again she returned to normal. The following day I bought her a load of excellent quality alfalfa hay. Prior to that (from freshening) I had no luck in getting much alfalfa into her. Usually I use pellets, but she would not eat them unless mixed with a good amount of sweet feed. She would not touch alfalfa cubes or chopped hay.
She ate the alfalfa hay and I gradually transitioned her to eating just that (before she wanted oat hay, which wasn't doing her much good). For the past couple of days she has had typical alfalfa/spring diarrhea. When I got home last night I noticed she looked a little off again. She had eaten all of her alfalfa, but when I put more out and her grain she was not interested. This morning I had to get her up, and she staggered. She also had diarrhea like green tinted water. I loaded her up and took her to work (the clinic). She went down in the trailer on the way, and couldn't get up by the time we arrived. We did a CBC, chem 17 panel with electrolytes, and a fecal. Her blood calcium was on the low end of normal, electrolytes were completely out of whack (mostly off the scale), high glucose, high TBIL, high BUN. The fecal was unremarkable. Temperature was 99.8F, we had a cold snap overnight.
My boss is certain she has milk fever, mostly due to the time of onset. We gave her an IV of CMPK and an energy drench. About an hr later she was up and nibbling at hay (she wanted grass hay not alfalfa), but was still wobbly. He had me give her 4 CMPK boluses at lunchtime. This afternoon she got worse, spent most of it down and would not eat anything. We drenched her with electrolytes at 6pm, and gave more boluses. She was feistier than she had been all day when I loaded her up, and went to nibbling grass hay in the trailer. By the time I got home (an hr later) she was laying down in the trailer, but got up right away and unloaded herself. She looked much steadier on her feet. However, she still will not eat tonight. She has three types of hay (grass, oat, and alfalfa) and sweet feed. Please help, I'm not convinced which condition we're battling. I have kept her calf off her overnight so she can rest. Her udder hasn't filled all day.
She ate the alfalfa hay and I gradually transitioned her to eating just that (before she wanted oat hay, which wasn't doing her much good). For the past couple of days she has had typical alfalfa/spring diarrhea. When I got home last night I noticed she looked a little off again. She had eaten all of her alfalfa, but when I put more out and her grain she was not interested. This morning I had to get her up, and she staggered. She also had diarrhea like green tinted water. I loaded her up and took her to work (the clinic). She went down in the trailer on the way, and couldn't get up by the time we arrived. We did a CBC, chem 17 panel with electrolytes, and a fecal. Her blood calcium was on the low end of normal, electrolytes were completely out of whack (mostly off the scale), high glucose, high TBIL, high BUN. The fecal was unremarkable. Temperature was 99.8F, we had a cold snap overnight.
My boss is certain she has milk fever, mostly due to the time of onset. We gave her an IV of CMPK and an energy drench. About an hr later she was up and nibbling at hay (she wanted grass hay not alfalfa), but was still wobbly. He had me give her 4 CMPK boluses at lunchtime. This afternoon she got worse, spent most of it down and would not eat anything. We drenched her with electrolytes at 6pm, and gave more boluses. She was feistier than she had been all day when I loaded her up, and went to nibbling grass hay in the trailer. By the time I got home (an hr later) she was laying down in the trailer, but got up right away and unloaded herself. She looked much steadier on her feet. However, she still will not eat tonight. She has three types of hay (grass, oat, and alfalfa) and sweet feed. Please help, I'm not convinced which condition we're battling. I have kept her calf off her overnight so she can rest. Her udder hasn't filled all day.