Bullock with meningitis

harry blogs

Right - bullock went into drain on Friday - got him out and left him in field
Went back to him again around 8 pm
Hadn't got up - spinning around wasn't able to get his back legs under him
Got vet out about 10.30pm - said it was meningitis - brain affected no balance to stand up
And just gave him a couple of injections
On sat still the same we lifted him to a sheltered spot and propped him between 2 bales of straw gave him nuts & water seemed a bit more content & ate nuts & drank water
Question is - I know it's prob a lost cause
600 kg bullock. - can't kill him as it's a 28 day withdrawal period on injections
Is there any hope of getting him to last a month or getting him to stand
Will be checking him soon - as I live a bit away from the farm

whelan2

Can he eat or stand? Had 2 recently. 1 had to be put down and the other is fine. It depends how soon the animal got the drugs if they recover

Sam Kade

I had a cow with that once she didn't last 2 days if it's caught early there might be hope but in my case I rang the vet at noon and he didn't arrive until midnight :mad:

harry blogs

Can't stand but is trying - eating a small bit of nuts not a lot
Got injections maybe 10 hours after being taken out of drain

J.O. Farmer

It's hard to say with meningitis. He probably is gone past the point of rescue if he's still not improving. He could last the month and not die although that seems long. A week or two though would definitely be possible.
You say he got the injections 10 hours after coming out of the drain. You probably don't know how long he was in it and would it be disorientation from the meningitis that caused him to go in in the first place.
The next question is whether he could enter the food chain in a month while clinically displaying meningitis.

harry blogs

Have him in shed now between bales
Again
Has good energy and is trying to get up
Ur right meningitis was what disorientated him and made him go into drain
Looking back he prob showed slight signs just the day before ( Thursday )
Picking around a small bit

dh1985

Had a first calver cow this time last year with meningitis. Spotted her on a saturday morning looking a bit dodge. Was still eating but was kind of holding her head to the side and walking sideways. Got her and calf in & called vet. She was down for about five weeks I think. She was strectched out flat for three days or so. We used to clip bags of grass from silage ground and feed it to her. Get lots of water into them if possible. Ours went mad for ivy also. It was one good day followed by one bad day for about three weeks. She calved a week ago and is absolutely perfect otherwise. Hope he comes good for you.

farmersfriend

dh1985 wrote: »

Had a first calver cow this time last year with meningitis. Spotted her on a saturday morning looking a bit dodge. Was still eating but was kind of holding her head to the side and walking sideways. Got her and calf in & called vet. She was down for about five weeks I think. She was strectched out flat for three days or so. We used to clip bags of grass from silage ground and feed it to her. Get lots of water into them if possible. Ours went mad for ivy also. It was one good day followed by one bad day for about three weeks. She calved a week ago and is absolutely perfect otherwise. Hope he comes good for you.

A bit of nursing is the saving of them if u get them in time

dh1985

farmersfriend wrote: »

A bit of nursing is the saving of them if u get them in time

Yeah it was a long road but was satisfying at the end. Our vet was phenomenal also as he used to just pop in if he was passing.

harry blogs

Just looked at him there - has a slight tremble/shiver still - but feels warm gave him nuts hay & water
But not touching them he f
Don't know whether to call vet out again
Will see how he is later this evening
Just wondering if there is anything else I could do for him

whelan2

harry blogs wrote: »

Just looked at him there - has a slight tremble/shiver still - but feels warm gave him nuts hay & water
But not touching them he f
Don't know whether to call vet out again
Will see how he is later this evening
Just wondering if there is anything else I could do for him

think you are doing all you can, is he still getting injections? The shivers should be gone by now

farmersfriend

harry blogs wrote: »

Just looked at him there - has a slight tremble/shiver still - but feels warm gave him nuts hay & water
But not touching them he f
Don't know whether to call vet out again
Will see how he is later this evening
Just wondering if there is anything else I could do for him

Could offer him warm milk wit treacle and glucose. U could dose him wit some and he might start to drink. Cover him wit a blanket to keep him warm. Often find they will take milk when all else fails.

Phil Iam

harry blogs wrote: »

Just wondering if there is anything else I could do for him

Have you tried lifting him ?

dh1985

Would think your doing all you can. Our vet advised us not to lift our cow as he said not to be stressing her too much. Keep trying him with the water. You may have to lift a bucket up to him. You could always call your vet for his advise

Phil Iam

dh1985 wrote: »

Would think your doing all you can. Our vet advised us not to lift our cow as he said not to be stressing her too much. Keep trying him with the water. You may have to lift a bucket up to him. You could always call your vet for his advise

If it was my animal I would try and get him on his feet and get circulation back into the legs, there is a clamp used for lifting that causes very little stress and any way I am not sure stress should be an issue!

harry blogs

Bullock died around dinner time - big loss to take
He wouldn't even drink water this morning
Thanks everyone for the input

J.O. Farmer

harry blogs wrote: »

Bullock died around dinner time - big loss to take
He wouldn't even drink water this morning
Thanks everyone for the input

Sorry to hear it. It is a big loss financially but I always think that it's better the bullock than a family member. May your bad luck go with him.

severeoversteer

had one die like that but he was rotting away for over a month, in hind sight I should have put him down

vets hadn't a clue what wrong with the beast
3 vets out and not a clue

I reckon he probably ate something

but one thing I reckon is that you can poison them as quick as cure them with medicine

where you have live stock you'll have dead stock !!

tanko

Unfortunately that's farming. These things happen to everyone at some stage. Try to forget about it and look forward.

whelan2

harry blogs wrote: »

Bullock died around dinner time - big loss to take
He wouldn't even drink water this morning
Thanks everyone for the input

meant to ask you earlier how he was doing. You did your best for him.

dh1985

Sorry to hear that. You tried your best but sometimes it falls short. Thats part and parcel of farming I suppose.

FineFilly

Big loss but you done everything you could,know a lad that had a bull with meningitis but was lucky he was got early

Dont be daft

harry blogs wrote: »

Bullock died around dinner time - big loss to take
He wouldn't even drink water this morning
Thanks everyone for the input

I lost one to it a few years ago and it was all my fault.

Spotted something odd about him and went off to get the cattle trailer to bring him home, just to keep a closer eye on him.
When I got back to the field I couldn't find him in the group of about 35. I checked every animal in the field and just thought that I was wrong the first time.

A day later I moved the group to the next field on, and there he was in the corner of the new field, sick as f*ck.
He'd broken out while I was getting the box, the day before.

I spent the next few weeks nursing him with ivy, stomach pumps etc. etc. and eventually the only decent thing left to do was to shoot him.

Harsh lessen in stockmanship for me, but have saved a good few since with it.