Update & Questions

[mamatomany]

Long post made short....cow had mastitis, cultured neg. for everything. I threw the kitchen sink at her. Have since just left her calf to suckle her and keep her empty. She had a large (like bigger than my hand opened up large) mass on one quarter that she walled off, that has recentely come to a head and blew out the side of her udder . I knew that was one of two things that could have happened...she absorbs it, or rids it.
1. Should the exude be tested for CL or something else?
2. I have been treating what I thought was cracked teats for a long time to no avail. I realized today, they are flippin warts of some kind ....how does one treat that. They are all over her teats and a few on her udder. DId not inspect her completely.
3. How do I treat this hole in her udder that still has junk coming out of it? I did wipe it, look inside, and put some furall on her. That was 4 days ago. I fed her this am. and took another look at it. I squeezed a little, out came a chunk of cottage cheese, and then when you let go, it goes back in.

Ummm...besides being mordified, and for sure that I have chosen an animal that I will never be able to milk or meet her immune function needs - what is the next step here? Quite discouraged. She is beautiful 3 yr. old. She is eating raw grains, and alfalfa hay (some fresh and some waste from the dairy goats), good minerals with yeast in it.

[midhilldexters]

Sorry about your bad luck, I think with a wound that large it may be wise to have your vet check it out. I'm sure it needs to drain but getting a secondary infection in the open wound is also a worry. Call the vet and see what he can do for her udder.
Let us know how it goes,

Carol K

[marion]

IF she is eating well and has no temperature (check it twice daily) and if the wound does seem genuinely walled-off and exuding to the outside, I would keep on flushing it out at lease once a day with peroxide. You can make (or buy) a huge syringe with a tube attached, to shoot the stuff to the inside. It will bubble the gunky material out. Keep her in a very clean area and watch her very closely for any sign off being off-feed.
Try tea tree oil for the warts.
Seems to me CL is a sheep/goat disease and doesn't affect cattle?? Certainly, get your vet to look at her as soon as you can.

.marion

[mamatomany]

I just talked with my brother up in New York. He told me it is normal for her body to respond to the infection. Months of draining....keep an eye on it, when it seems done, he said do a flush on it with iodine tincture. He also said the warts were a paploma ? virus. He said this is gonna sound crazy, but cut two of them off and stick them about 8 inches into her rectum. A lot of times if you introduce this paplaoma virus thru a different area, she will build an immune response to it and be totally healed of it! Really? Hmm...aaaah he said, when your in the mood you can. I have my hand up a cows butt (he used another word) 5 days a week
I really do trust him, he has been in cows his whole life, he is one of those with a "farming" degree from an ivy school

[marion]

Back in the day... I've lanced a lot of goat CL abscesses. Then did the peroxide flush/squeeze out. Then got gauze strip dipped in iodine and poked it into the abscess hole with tweezers, leaving an end hanging out...
Dont remember anymore how long that was left in before pulling. (maybe I have blocked it out..yag)

Lots of ways to treat fungal/viral. Pulling some off to make the virus mix with the blood does work with ordinary warts. Probably not necesary to bury them where the sun don't shine... I'd try dabbing with the tea tree oil on an udder..marion

[otf]

I will no doubt receive a stern lecture from Olga and others, but this is what I must say:

Sorry, but I really think this cow needs more than warts shoved up her backside! How about calling a vet in to examine this cow? A huge blown-out abscess and warts all over her teats and udder? Months of draining? This cow probably needs antibiotics, but most of all she needs a qualified large animal vet to examine her and recommend a treatment plan.

[dexterlady]

Mammatomany, I have to agree with otf, you need to get a vet out there to look at that cow...you could have a worse situation than you think. And I too think she needs antibiotics....Just my two cents....Donna