Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

dairyman · Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Posts: 19

My cow has been milking for about 5 mths without any problem but all of a sudden 1 quarter was swollen and only watery fluid was coming out.The cow became dull and off feed. I treated with intramamary infusion and tetracycline i/m for 4 days. It is already a week but there is not much improvement. The quarter is still hard and the cow is losing body conditon.No milk letdown in the other teats too. I have also given dexamethasone injections . Please help me.Thank you.

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

Has a vet visited your cow yet?

Dr csh · Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 425

Dear Dairyman,

Of course I cannot tell for sure what is going on with your cow without performing a physical exam on it myself but I am guessing that your cow has acute coliform mastitis. It is rather unusual for a cow 5 months into lactation to suddenly develop acute mastitis of this nature. I usually see watery milk as a result of a coliform mastitis and this usually happens during the periparturient (around the time of calving) period.

What type of intramammary infusion did you use? The problem with coliform mastitis is most intramammary infusions does not work. If you want to try something, intramammary ceftiofur hydrochloride (spectramast LC) would be the most appropriate however it is a VERY expensive drug.

I am not allowed to give you exact dosages on this forum but I would suggest the following treatment concepts:

1) Get the toxins out of the cow by milking her out at least 2 times a day. Traditionally, vets have recommended as often as 6 times a day but recent studies have shown it does not really make a big difference. If you like, you can include intramammary infusions but I would be careful with the choice of intramammary antibiotics.

2) Prevent toxic shock. Your cow can die from this condition and if it did, it would be due to toxic shock. How do you know if your cow is toxic? look at the gums on the bottom jaw. There may be a purplish line around where the gums meet the teeth. If you see this, the cow would be quite sick. So, how to treat a cow for toxic shock? maximize circulating volume by giving Intravenous fluids, NSAIDs (probably flunixin meglumine), sparing use of steroids (such as dexamethasone), and perhaps calcium supplementation (some IV and some SQ Calcium borogluconate)

3) Supportive care. Just the basics. make sure she has feed and water available. If she is completely off feed, you may choose to pump some alfalfa meal, minerals, etc. mixed in water through a oral-rumen tube. Transfaunation (taking rumen fluid from one cow and putting it into another) is also a good thing to help jump start the rumen. If thecow is down, make sure she has plenty of bedding and make sure she is not down on one side for too long.

I want to stress that there may be something else wrong with the cow and the only way for me to know is to look at it myself. I would recommend that you to call the vet and make sure she doesn't have displaced abomasum, hardware, johne's or any other conditions.

Good luck and update us on how the cow is doing