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Neighbors down cow...POLIO

Faster horses

Well-known member
On the thread Soapweed started with his sick calf, I mentioned one of
our neighbors had a cow down on our place. She had gotten through
the fence and was down in a draw. The vet came out on
Wednesday morning and treated her. He also pulled some blood and
sent it in and today the report came back as polio. She got it from drinking some bad water. He hadn't had her in that pasture very long; put them in about Monday night.

There is only potholes for water, but they looked good and clear; with all the runoff, you would think the water wouldn't be that
bad yet.

So, beware, I guess, if you have these conditions in your pasture.
Good water is number 1.

She might make it, stood up in the back end and on her knees in the
front today for at least 15 minutes. The vet gave her some more stuff.
He said she is blind, too, but she might get over that as well.

Keep your fingers crossed. She's so cute and she looks so sad.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I was thinking maybe water-- One year when I was riding for the grazing association we had a wet spring with lots of little waterholes-- turned hot and dry and a bunch of those little holes went bad overnight-- Between two days of checking cows we had over 30 dead around some of the little holes...Had to hire crews to come in and fence them off....
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
nr, I can't answer that question. I don't know. I was going to look
it up on the internet, but haven't had time to do that yet.

I know the owner was a bit concerned because he has had his hands
in her mouth trying to get her to eat something. I guess it causes the
brain to swell, and though she acts hungry when you put the hay in her mouth, she acts like she doesn't know how to get it in her mouth on her own.

It's a sad deal. I was going to take a picture of her, but they came with a car trailer and Mr. FH loaded her on that with his loader. They took
her home to their barn, which has to be a better deal than where
she was.

That's quite a story OT. How awful!!! I have just never lived on a place
that water was ever a problem. Lucky me!!!
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Acroding to the big book infront of me talking aboutPolioencephalomalacia iit is not... Assuming that this is the syndrome that the vet was refering to. (Book says people call it Polio in ruminants) The big book is telling me it is a sulfer abundance. Blind cattle, paralyzed.. Real stiff necks, sounds a bit like tetney symptons to be honest...

I googled it and there was some talk of a Polio type virus in cattle, need to look at it more closely..
 

IL Rancher

Well-known member
Well stagnant water often smells like sulpher to me so it kind of made sense... But who knows. They also say it is more typical with younger cattle than older.. I uess the treatment is thiamine HCL injected under the skin. Critter might remian blind for weeks or even months.. This is a rather large book that is a bit beyond me to be honest.. a lot of technical terms, need to have a dicitonary next to it to understand half of what it says.

Large Animal Interna Medicine. Same book my vet uses but I had it first :wink:
 

Faster horses

Well-known member
GOOD NEWS this morning!!!

They moved the cow to the barn, got her to eat half a bucket of
alfalfa hay on her own. This morning she is up on all four legs.

The owners tube her with water daily. She has really gotten to
be a project. She now moos softly to them when they show up to do something for her. It is as if she knows they are trying to help.

She still doesn't seem to remember how to drink, so hopefully
that motor skill will return as she continues to improve. I'll go
over and get a picture of her soon.

Yep, IL Rancher, she is a two-year old, so that fits.
Thanks again for looking up the information.
 
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