Post by Awnry Abe on Sept 19, 2015 1:13:23 GMT
Not really a question. I just had a difficult time finding good explanation for a set of symptoms. I want to put this out here so others have another data point.
Sunny went down hard 2 weeks ago. Day one, off by a quart. Day two, off by a quart. Day three, off a gallon. Then down hard. She went completely off food and water. By day 5, not a drop of milk. The normally piggly cow was only skin and bones. I had the vet out on day 3. He diagnosed her with Anaplasmosis. I had already given her a dose of Bio-Mycin, which is the form of LA I keep on had for the goats. He recommended to continue the Bio-Mycin for 4 total treatments, 3 days apart, which I did.
I am posting this message, because when I went searching for causes to match the symptom, all I could find was info on Ketosis. Nothing about anaplasmosis popped up until I went searching for the right search terms ("included horse fly"). I grilled the vet, "Are you sure it isn't ketosis?", and he was pretty adamant about it. I didn't really have a strong opinion, because this is the first time I have dealt with:
"Lethargic cow, milk production dropping, wretched odor, no fever". That was it. He gave me the 411 on the conditions and it made sense. I didn't notice it until he pointed it out, but she was very jaundice.
That was no fun at all. She was competely down after the first dose, about 2 days post shot. When an animal does rebound from an antibiotic shot, I am accustomed to seeing an animal rebound in 24 hours. When they don't rebound in 24 hours, I am accustomed to imminent death. Sunny was still scraping bottom between the 2nd and 3rd shot, about 1 week after
the vet visit. I was contemplating putting her down, because she was barely up and showing no signs of improvement. She eventually developed a bit of a fever (103.8 on cool day).
Then she decided it was time to get better. She got up, went over to the mineral feeder, camped out and ate way too much mineral. She has slowly gotten better from that point. Her last shot was a few days ago. The milk production is slowly returning, but her appetite is back to 100%. Her production is low enough that I could easily dry her off now, but I want her restored to health so I can shut her udder down in a healthy state. I have some concern about mastitis in her right front. CMT, pre-strip, and filter all indicate "no issue", but she is kicking when I touch it.
That was a dreadful couple of weeks. She is a sweet cow, and key to the milk operation. I would hate to lose her. She is normally first into the barn, but now lags by about 30 seconds. I'll know that she is back to full speed when she is back to being first in the stanchion.
