07/04/2012
Understanding and diagnosing
the sick cow
Peter Orpin BVsc MRCVS
The normal cow
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Heart rate 40-60 bts/ minute
Temperature 101.5
Rumen contraction every 25 seconds
Passing dung and urine
Normal head and body position
Moves freely without problems
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The anatomy
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The obviously sick
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How to diagnose sick cows
Stand back and look
• Rumen fill
• Legs
• Body- rumen fill
• Cudding
• Respiratory rate
• Eyes/ ears/ head position
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Closer visual examination
Stand closer and look
• Jugular pulse
• Respiratory rate
• Nasal discharge
• Gut movements
• Muscle twitching
• Eyes- very important
The clinical examination
• Temperature
• Heart rate
• Skin tent time
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Temperature- what does it mean?
• Pain
• Inflammation
• Hot day
• Exercise/ exertion
Resting animal expect 101-102
102.5 significant
104 very significant
106= IBR/ large surface areas affected
Temperatures
Subnormal
Toxic/ milk fever/ dying/ collapse/ poor
rumen function
Normal
Mild elevation 101.5-103
Low grade infection/ localised
inflammation in udder/ uterus/wires
Moderate elevation103-104
Wires/ mastitis/ respiratory/ metritis
Severe elevation 104 +
Acute mastitis in early phase, IBR ,
pnumonia/salmonella/ large surface
area infection etc
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Top tips
• A high temperature is better than a low one
• A very high temperature only exists for a
short period of time perhaps 24-48 hours
• Must be taken as part of the overall picture
with sick animal eg subnormal and down/
toxic animal is major problem whereas
subnormal and bright and alert less of a
worry
Always take the temperature of a
sick cow!
Heart rate
• Underused
• Heart rate= pain/ stress/ dehydration/ toxic
• Subnormal temperature, slow heart rate,
down cow= milk fever
• Subnormal temperature, rapid heart rate,
down cow= toxic? Bleeding out?
• Use your eyes
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Skin tent time
• Underused
• Method of assessing dehydration and
shock
• Greater than 2 seconds then abnormal
• Very useful predictor of outcome of acute
mastitis
Practical
• Observe normal cows
• Examine normal cows
• Make sure we can take temperatures
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Treatment options
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Medical
Surgical
Dog Tucker!
Make a decision and work it
through
• Ask for help if you need it.
What are the causes of sick
cows?
Infected
Pain/ inflammation
Virus- IBR/BVD
Bacteria- Salmonella/ EColi
Coccidiosis- Calves/ Scour
Parasites- Calves/ Scour
Lameness
Gut pain
Surgery
Pneumonia
Mastitis
Trauma
Calving
Metabolic
Shock/ Dehydration
Hypocalcaemia( low calcium)
Grass staggers
Ketosis( low sugar/ high ketones)
Hypoglycaemia( low sugar)
Water
Electrolytes
Toxic shock
E Coli mastitis
Blood loss
Gut twist/ RDA
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Treatment Options
Infected
Pain/ inflammation
Antibiotics
Coccidiocides
Parasiticides
Pain killers
Antii-nflammatories
Finadyne
Metacam
Rimadyl
Metabolic
Shock/ Dehydration
Calcium
Magnesium
Glucose
Dextrose
Propylene Glycol
“Glycerol Plus”
“Selekt Fresh Cow”
Water
Electrolytes- Selekt Restore
Non Steroidals- Finadyne/
When should we call for
help?
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What should we do to make sure we
treat sick cows effectively?
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