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Post by littlecowfl on Jul 26, 2019 17:56:19 GMT -5
Okay. Wow, what a day.
Fiona is recovered and back in the stall next to Ursa. They can see and nuzzle, but not nurse. She had necrotic tissue inside that quarter, which was causing the recurrent fevers. She did well during surgery and the surgeon was quite pleased with the results. The culture is still pending, but they gave her a second dose of Exceed (first one was on Monday night). If the culture shows something different, we'll get another antibiotic to go home with her on Sunday. She will be in the horse barn, because it's cleaner. The baby will be on the other side of a gate, just outside of her stall. In about a week, this massive bandage that was glued on will come off. Our vet will come out and sedate her to get it off. We have straws from two outstanding bulls, so no need to worry about her being bred. She is a great auntie already to any little calf. Our other two breeding cows will be able to continue to enjoy her attention to them and their future calves. She has always been the rock of the herd.
Two month old Ursa is adorable and very friendly. Our son and I waited in the stall with her when Fiona was off for surgery. We pet her, let her suckle our fingers and lick us, and sang to her when she got restless (it worked; she went to sleep). She is going to be a neat cow when she grows up.
Not any other cow would have gotten this treatment, but Fiona is family. She made a lot of friends at the hospital because of her gentleness and cooperation.
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Post by littlecowfl on Jul 26, 2019 19:46:20 GMT -5
Some pictures. Monday: Arrival at the hospital: The little calf cart they used to keep Ursa near while Fiona was being prepped for surgery: Ursa hanging out with us while waiting for mama:
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Post by otf on Jul 27, 2019 7:12:29 GMT -5
OMG, that udder photo is frightening! Ursa looks like such a sweet baby. It appears that the hospital is doing all it can to make them comfortable!!! My thoughts are with you and I hope all of this works out for the best!
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Post by littlecowfl on Jul 27, 2019 10:44:55 GMT -5
Her udder was just cone shaped in the front, but the last two calves made it much worse. The last calf was an accidental breeding. She wasn't supposed to have any more. Now you see why I say she was a great steer maker. She had seven calves total. Five were bull calves that were very tasty. The first calf was a heifer and Fiona didn't look too bad then, so we did sell her. The sire's dam had an excellent udder that influenced the baby. Her last calf, and only dun, is Ursa. Ursa's sire also has very good maternal traits from his dam. We will see.
The vet school said there was a tumor looking growth, but that removing it should be the end of it anyway. They did not recommend testing it.
Fiona has an insistent moo. Louder than any other cow I've ever had. She was quiet the first day at the hospital (feeling uncertain, I'm sure). But, when they took her food away for 24 hours, she bellowed at them, lol! After surgery, her loud moo to get her calf back was pitiful because she was hoarse from intubation. They called me with an update and told me they are trying the two together. They couldn't stand it. I love my opinionated cow.
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Post by littlecowfl on Jul 28, 2019 16:13:36 GMT -5
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Post by otf on Jul 29, 2019 6:44:34 GMT -5
littlecowfl, thanks for the photos. She looks great and I'm sure she probably feels a whole lot better, as do you! Beautiful accommodations. Ya done good!
Gale
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Post by littlecowfl on Jul 29, 2019 12:10:59 GMT -5
Thanks. She is on stall rest for two weeks, but I can start walking her to get a little grass in a couple of days.
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Post by cddexter on Jul 30, 2019 20:08:49 GMT -5
(Joke)...Alicia, I'll give you my address, you can come here anytime. My barn only looked like that twice a year, the day I did a full clean before the cows were let back in.
Great job. Did the vet have to take out the milk veins, too? cheers, c.
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Post by littlecowfl on Jul 31, 2019 5:51:42 GMT -5
Cddexter, I must admit, that is the horse barn, lol! But our cow barn is getting cleaned down to the stall mats. I intend to keep it as clean, now that we have three. I would like to start milking, after the red heifer calves.
She has nothing left in which to nurse a calf. We were worried that the calf would mess with her bandages out of a desire to nurse, but she has been fine. If she shows any desire, once the covering is removed from the surgical wound, I have a nylon mesh mat I can place under Fiona to block her (it's a belly attachment for horse fly sheets that I found online). It is so important for a calf to remain with the cow. In fact, I don't have to wean this one, lol! I won't miss the hollering.
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Post by Pinevalleydexters on Aug 3, 2019 17:15:06 GMT -5
Fiona has to feel so much better! She is a special cow and will continue to make people feel better with her great personality. The photos really helped show her problem udder, I couldn’t have imagined that was how it looked.
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Post by littlecowfl on Aug 3, 2019 20:08:05 GMT -5
Fiona is much better. I just need to keep her on stall rest another week and keep her surgical site clean. The vet removed the covering yesterday. The calf was dehorned, but gave us a scare. Vet used slightly too much sedative and she tried to stop breathing. Compressions got her going again. That was tough. Thought I lost her. I'm going back to dehorning paste for any more calves we might have. No more sedation drama!
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Post by Pinevalleydexters on Aug 4, 2019 23:00:01 GMT -5
Fiona is much better. I just need to keep her on stall rest another week and keep her surgical site clean. The vet removed the covering yesterday. The calf was dehorned, but gave us a scare. Vet used slightly too much sedative and she tried to stop breathing. Compressions got her going again. That was tough. Thought I lost her. I'm going back to dehorning paste for any more calves we might have. No more sedation drama! That had to be very scary! I am glad that she is ok, we have always used the paste to dehorn.
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Post by cddexter on Aug 5, 2019 11:03:52 GMT -5
Alicia, I always had the vet dehorn and he used something called Rompun, just a few drops. Some of the larger bull calves needed an extra bit, but he would wait to watch and if they didn't keel over in about five minutes, only then would they get a tiny bit more. For my animals it acted like a sort of cow valium. They weren't out cold, just in a twilight zone. Then he froze the three main nerves to each horn, and either cut or burned them off. If it was an older cow, I had him do cosmetic dehorning, where he cut back the skin flaps, took the horn off, and then stitched the flaps back. Calves were head butting within 20 minutes of waking up, so it couldn't have hurt that much, and there was no stress of trying to catch them, and no pain associated with it.
I think John Potter put up a description of how he dehorned using elastic bands, but his calves went through agony for about 10 minutes until the horn nerves went numb.
I always worried I'd get the paste in the wrong place, and burn away too much. Coward that I am, the vet took care of it.
Sooo glad Fiona is getting better, and will have a good life. cheers, c.
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Post by littlecowfl on Aug 7, 2019 19:38:56 GMT -5
Fiona is getting better. It was so hot two days ago and she was so miserable in her stall that I took her and Ursa out and tied them up for a rinse. Fiona was so happy she half closed her eyes and sighed while water ran over back.
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