So tell me about edema..... (pics added)

[funnymamma]

Buttercup calved on Sunday (a healthy bull calf). She is a Jersey and this is her second calf. I bought her in August so I have no idea what her first freshening was like. Her udder in the days before calving was bigger and harder than I'd ever seen it. It appeared to be edema as it was very firm, pitting and moved around depending on how she had been laying but seemed to be more pronounced on the right side of her udder.

I have had some concern about mastitis, only because she had a teat injury (right front) from frostbite in January as we were getting ready to dry her off. She never showed any signs of mastitis, but her production was dropping extremely fast (less than 1 gallon/day) and I couldn't keep reopening the scab on the teat end without torturing her or risking life and limb. On the advice of the vet, we treated with Spectramast DC and dried her off.

Since calving, I am getting very little out of the udder due to the swelling/edema. She's not very cooperative for either me or the calf, but he is nursing. Swelling/edema continues to be worse on the right side of the udder. I got half a gallon at each milking for the first couple days and now up to maybe a gallon. The first couple days, no flakes or anything in the strip cup or filter. Yesterday morning there were some really tiny flakes on the filter but I thought we were on the right track as the edema seemed to be lessening a bit. Consulted with the vet and she advised to just continue to monitor and if things aren't great by Thursday to give her a call back and she'll come out.

Last night when I went to bring her in for milking, the skin on her fore-udder appears to be splitting from the pressure and it's oozing clear fluid. Last night was the first milking that I didn't have to tie a leg back. She still danced a bit but tolerated me doing my thing. Now I'm seeing flakes on the strip cup from the right rear quarter. No heat though. The right rear is where the worst swelling is. There is so much that the teat is kind of sucked back up into the udder and I can barely get a hold of it to strip it with one finger and my thumb. Fortunately the milker stays on but with so much edema, not much is coming out.

This morning, the edema looks worse again. More, bigger flakes on the strip cup from that right back quarter. How long can I expect this to go on? I would have thought the edema would be moving out by now. Yesterday I thought it was...

It's starting to really stress me out!

[funnymamma]

Some pics...

Yesterday morning
IMG_20170320_215531 by Liz E, on Flickr

Last evening
IMG_20170321_210518 by Liz E, on Flickr

And a look at her udder while she is walking, after milking. You can see the definite line of edema and that it is worse on the right side. Excuse the mess, it's mud season here...

[rose1317]

Poor girl, that has to hurt! Edema with my cows (Jerseys) has responded to massage with warm compresses and peppermint oil lotion, and I put several packets of tea leaves from Raspberry Leaf tea in her feed twice a day. It seems this last time it took more than a week, there's still some edema but she's not wearing a concrete udder anymore, LOL.
The tear/injury looks painful, maybe clean it and try antibiotic ointment and Corona, so it doesn't get infected from the mud/manure that is part and parcel of spring. Congrats on a healthy calf!

[rd200]

And I just lost everything I wrote... Quick version, if she were mine, id give 1 shot of Dexamethasone. Slather that udder up with mint udder cream twice a day, liberally. AVOIDING that nasty slit under he udder and her teats.
For e slit id do a lanolin based cream or ointment so it stays moist so it doesnt keep slitting open. And keep her pen well bedded so that doenst get infected.

The edema should come down soon. You're not drinking the milk are you?? With the SpecteamastDC, the milk won't be safe for human consumption for at least 2-3 days if not longer.

[rd200]

Holy spelling errors, sorry, I was typing fast

[westxgrl13]

No pearls of wisdom to offer, just sympathy for you AND your cow!

[funnymamma]

Mar 22, 2017 12:26:51 GMT -5 rd200 said:

And I just lost everything I wrote... Quick version, if she were mine, id give 1 shot of Dexamethasone. Slather that udder up with mint udder cream twice a day, liberally. AVOIDING that nasty slit under he udder and her teats.
For e slit id do a lanolin based cream or ointment so it stays moist so it doesnt keep slitting open. And keep her pen well bedded so that doenst get infected.

The edema should come down soon. You're not drinking the milk are you?? With the SpecteamastDC, the milk won't be safe for human consumption for at least 2-3 days if not longer.

We have been doing peppermint udder rubs and no, we're not drinking the milk. It's hard to get anything to stick to the wound as it's weeping badly. It is literally dripping clear serous fluid every second so...

[sallymae16]

Wow I totally sympathize!

I would try putting ground cayenne pepper and vitamin e oil (can squeeze out of capsules) in some type of moisturizer/oil and put that on to encourage blood flow.

Also getting some really hot water (not to hot!) and rags and getting the rags wet and hot and hold on her udder while massaging for a few minutes.

Those 2 things are what really helped my girl with edema. I totally get the difficult milking!

[3cows]

Do have any way at all to get her out of the mud and onto clean bedding until her udder heals? Keeping the udder, and teat ends clean will do a lot to prevent further issues with coliform mastitis and other nasties that can get in through breaks and openings in the skin.

Corona (the thick, white kind) - keeping a thick layer on that split will help it heal and protect it until it does.

For the edema, start her on a quarter to half cup of ground, regular coffee, not brewed, just the dry, unbrewed coffee in her feed twice a day. (Its a Dr. Karreman trick that I used this last year when one of mine calved during 100 degree heat and had really bad edema and it really helped knock it back within a couple days.)

How was her udder structure before the edema? It looks to me like the median suspensory ligament has failed or is very stretched due to the edema...

Poor girl!

[jerseyrose]

I would get several shots of Lasix from your vet. It is a diuretic and really helps to move the fluid along. she will pee a lot but no other concerns associated with using it. With the udder splitting I would want something that works fairly quickly. Poor girl.

[funnymamma]

Mar 22, 2017 13:24:04 GMT -5 3cows said:

Do have any way at all to get her out of the mud and onto clean bedding until her udder heals? Keeping the udder, and teat ends clean will do a lot to prevent further issues with coliform mastitis and other nasties that can get in through breaks and openings in the skin.

Corona (the thick, white kind) - keeping a thick layer on that split will help it heal and protect it until it does.

For the edema, start her on a quarter to half cup of ground, regular coffee, not brewed, just the dry, unbrewed coffee in her feed twice a day. (Its a Dr. Karreman trick that I used this last year when one of mine calved during 100 degree heat and had really bad edema and it really helped knock it back within a couple days.)

How was her udder structure before the edema? It looks to me like the median suspensory ligament has failed or is very stretched due to the edema...

Poor girl!

Yes, she has deep straw bedding to lay on in her shelter. Walking to and from milking we have to traverse the mud fields, but otherwise, she has really nice clean "sheets".

And I did give her the last of my caffeinated coffee. Of course this happens just as I'm warning myself off of caffeine. I will go buy more...

And as for her udder. She was only producing a gallon/day when I got her in August so her udder has always been very small for mel. I too am worried about the ligaments.

[funnymamma]

3cows Here is a pic when I got her in August. Not a great udder shot, but it was in pretty good shape at the time.

IMG_20160814_161430 by Liz E, on Flickr

[3cows]

Beautiful animal, teats are pointing down as they should be and udder height is fine. I am hoping that ligament is just stretched and not blown out and that once the edema is gone it will tighten back up.

In my earlier post about clean bedding, I only mentioned it because 5 years ago this month I lost a beautiful cow because she calved outside on a muddy hay pile and developed coliform mastitis a few days later. Kind of hyperactive about that now.

[funnymamma]

Mar 22, 2017 15:55:56 GMT -5 3cows said:

Beautiful animal, teats are pointing down as they should be and udder height is fine. I am hoping that ligament is just stretched and not blown out and that once the edema is gone it will tighten back up.

In my earlier post about clean bedding, I only mentioned it because 5 years ago this month I lost a beautiful cow because she calved outside on a muddy hay pile and developed coliform mastitis a few days later. Kind of hyperactive about that now.

I understand I lost my beautiful Lily last July right after she calved from complications with Staph A mastitis that got started after she had frostbite on teat. I have been super paranoid about it since, especially with the history of frost bite right at dry off with this girl, and her udder is just freaking me out.

[Nonesuch Melissa]

She does have some swelling. The concerning part is that it is not uniformly bilateral and there are flakes. Even a mild case of mastitis can go south quickly if you can not get her milked out because of the edema.

I'd get some Lasix and use it once daily for 3 injections. Anything past that and it can cause the edema to rebound with a vengence. The extra fluid loss will take some minerals with it so be sure you have a good spring mineral (high Mg) or 12/12 out free choice.

I'd also give her one injection of Oxytocin and see what she is giving since you don't have a history to really know what she should be producing and how much of that you are getting milked out.

After the swelling is down with the Lasix you can follow up with some raspberry leaf tea. I got mine at the bulk tea place in a big Mylar bag and just give a couple handfuls in the stanchion. Pop love it and gobbles it right up. It can take a full month for the udder to feel completely normal.

If you are seeing flakes you may need a culture to sort it. Any animal with that much edema is going to have a high SCC so cow-side tests are not going to tell you if there is really an infection. I'd do that sooner rather than later because if she is brewing something you might want to jump on it rather than wait until you've got great gobs of grossness to deal with on top of the edema.

That midline wound does not look all that bad. I'd put some Corona on it.

We get this time after time with Pops... along with MF... and so far we've managed to make it thorough each time. We freshen again in 2 weeks so I may live to eat those words... I'm already stressing...

But just to give you hope- Pops at calving:



Pops 1 month out:

[justonecow]

I think TSC carries bags of the raspberry leaves for horses. Hope things get better for your girl soon, looks painful to me poor girl.

[Perry]

I didn't read everyone's response but my cow had super bad edema. Not knowing we thought possibly mastitis too but it wasn't. What was coming out was brownish reddish yuck. I had two vets out - I am sorry that don't recall what they gave. Antibiotics was one. I think also some type of steroid.

But what really helped was continually milking her out 2, 3, 4 times a day as difficult as it was (that was Vet's advice). AND raspberry leaves with coffee and molasses. I can't explain how or why those things helped. All I know is I followed friends' advice on here and it did. Next time I'll be armed with lots of raspberry leaves and begin giving to her ahead of time. I got the raspberry leaves at an herbal apothecary type place where I live. TSC or none of the other similar type stores here sold it. Middle of winter - raspberry leaves was not a staple in my house. But I do have friends who grow so guess who will be helping them cut down this fall.....

I will be thinking of you & your cow.

[Meadow Creek Mama]

We've had bad edema with our two calving here as well.
Dr. Karreman says that if it is an issue on your farm, you shouldn't leave loose salt out in the couple of months before calving. Considering where she is now though, I wonder if it is available, maybe pulling it and just giving her some in her ration. The salt makes them drink more water, making the edema worse he says. He also recommends some type of udder bra when it's bad although I've never seen one.
(
We milked Bella 3x a day when she calved with horrible edema in Jan. We bought a Kow Kant Kick to restrain her. (I will say about those, the arms were too long for our Jerseys and we had to cut 5" off of them.) It was so bad there was blood in the milk for a week. I never did a CMT because of the blood and I never saw flakes. But because you are seeing that, I would suggest a milk culture. Your vet would know if it still too early to find out, but having had 2 friends loose cows to staph a this year, I wouldn't hesitate to check.

Also, looking at the before picture you posted, I think her udder has that "I've had edema before" look.

[Nonesuch Melissa]

Mar 23, 2017 10:02:42 GMT -5 Meadow Creek Mama said:

  He also recommends some type of udder bra when it's bad although I've never seen one.  

eNasco sells them in a couple of sizes. We've got one but thusfar have not used it.

ETA link... but it did not work...

[rosalind]

Unfortunately, I think this cow does have a slipped ligament - and it looks like she had it before calving, but hard to tell for sure without seeing the cow or getting a rear shot.

Slipped ligaments that are permanent tend to cause permanent edema, so don't expect all the swelling to go away. It also tends to cause high somatic cell because the edema prevents you from ever getting a complete milk-out. The wide-set teats tend to rub the inside of the legs, which can lead to mastitis. I say this to give a heads up for what you may see in the future.

There is no cure for slipped ligaments - cow bras have issues of their own (tend to cause mastitis as much as prevent it...). These issues will reoccur at every calving and if this severe, it's often recommended not to breed the cow again.

The treatments listed above can be helpful. Temporary use of oxytocin may help assist in getting a better milk-out for a few days to help relieve the worst of the swelling.