pseueomonas infection

Callieslamb · #1 11/26/10, 04:51 PM

We just learned through a milk culture than my cow has a pseueomonas bacterial infection. Pseueomonas - not good. Nothing to treat it with - nothing will fix it.

Rats. We have been battling mastitis with our cow for the last month. I finally decided to have the vet culture some of the milk and see what we were battling. Belle freshened with mastitis. It took several treatments of antibiotics to get it cleared up. We had no trouble after that except for the milk not filtering well until I had a routine test done on her milk in Oct. The resulting SCC counts eventually brought us to having the vet test her milk.

So the questions:
1. What is the chance the other quarters will be infected also? If not now then eventually? Should I have them tested individually?

2. She needs to be bred. In fact, I just gave her a shot this morning to help her on her way. Would you go ahead and breed her? Or would you cull her? Not sure I would feel good selling her to someone else in this condition or with this possiblity.

3. She is destined to be a 3 quartered cow now in any event. I have a dual pulation set up. I don't know that I can pinch off one inflation without affecting how the claw works on the other three. Any suggestions here?

Rats and Double rats.

Chixarecute · #2 11/26/10, 06:45 PM

Mastitis is an infection that gains entrance through the teat canal - it is not systemic. The only way the other quarters will get infected is through a - bad washing/milking techniques, b - exposure in the environment to the same bug and c) cow was leaking milk from said infected quarter & she laid in the milk. You may want to sanitize her stall with some good bleach solution a few times.

You can hand milk the infected quarter - I"m not sure what you mean by dual pulsation, but with our surge milker buckets we would just leave one inflation down for the infected quarter - I don't know other systems but I understand some don't accommodate as well.

What about the cow's other qualities - you've planned to breed her - is she calm, good mother, decent milker? If so, go ahead & breed, if she throws a heifer you'll have a replacement, if she throws a bull you'll have beef. The other 3 quarters will compensate somewhat for the atrophied quarter.

If however, you have other cows & are worried about the bacteria spreading, cull her, and still do some heavy duty environmental sanitation.

Chixarecute · #3 11/26/10, 06:49 PM

http://www.uwex.edu/milkquality/pdf/pseudomonas.pdf

Check your water supplies - both for washing the udder, and ponds, stagnant areas, etc.

Callieslamb · #4 11/26/10, 07:19 PM

If they can get it from well water, doesn't that necessarily mean it can be systemic - or rather the bacteria was at one time and settled in one area? or more apt to be? I see that it attacks weakened cells in the first place. She doesn't have a stall that she sleeps in - she has a well-cleaned shed. She has only come in the barn dirty about 3 times. If this had just happened, I would think it was current wet conditions around here, but when it started we were as dry as we could be here. No ponds, no standing water - except for the rain of the last couple days. I don't put a dirty rag in my wash water so the water is always clean. Never put an inflation on a wet teat. It's very possible she came to us with this infection. She lived inside a barn all the time with 14 other cows. My plate count was >1.

She's an okay cow. Nothing exciting. Calm, easy to deal with. 4 yrs old. Calved easily. I didn't leave her calf with her so I have no idea about mothering abilities. I was mostly wondering about her ability to continue to be a milk cow - long term. Since she has the infection in one quarter even if we dry it off - it's there - how likely is it to spread to the other quarters? I wonder if we should even be drinking the milk at all. I have been milking that quarter out on the ground for a week waiting for the test results. The link you sent is the one I went to first for info. It didn't seem to answer my questions. Should have asked the vet when he called....rats!

Dual pulsation - two air hoses. Supposedly helps you milk faster and better for the cow. I am not sure how it does it- pulses in an altering rhythm side to side or back to front. I've noticed that when I simply pinch off the inflation, by turning it around on itself seems to affect how the other inflation ( back in my case) works. I do know how to pinch off an inflation. I only have the one cow.

Chixarecute · #5 11/26/10, 09:47 PM

I think if it is in the water, they get the infection not from drinking it, but from the bacteria being on the teat end through washing. Even if you dry, as resistant as that bug sounds, it probably just sat there waiting for the moment of suction (on or off?) to drag it just a little ways into the teat orifice. Or like you say, she could have come with it. I think once the quarter is dry, the risk of spreading is minimal. It's been so long since I've had cows I can't recall how likely a dried off quarter is to produce a little milk at next freshening...and possibly start the cycle again.

Oh, if she calved & cleaned up the calf, that's pretty good mothering ability. It sounds like you'd rather not deal with the risk of infection - do you have a replacement handy?

Still, might not be a bad idea to test your water heater.

lasergrl · #6 11/26/10, 10:04 PM

For what its worth, when a dog gets this in their ears, it is very bad, but sometimes it can be cleared up with mixing livestock baytril with an ear cleaner called t-8 and flushing the ear with it and leaving it in the ear, done daily for two weeks. Can it be infused into the teat?

Callieslamb · #7 11/26/10, 11:55 PM

I don't think so. My vet didn't think there was any use trying anything and everything I read said the same thing. I am resigned to that fact, but wonder if the rest of the milk is safe to drink. If it's going to spread, I might not want to go to the expense of having her bred....the time to make that decision will come to quickly, I think.

we are going to have the rest of her milk tested to see if there is any of this stuff present there before making the decision. Good suggestion to have the well water here tested for it too. What do you do if it's you own water?

No replacement handy at all. I don't mind keeping her at all....but if we are just going to continue this little routine in a few months, it wouldn't be worth it to me.

topside1 · #8 11/27/10, 08:11 AM

Callie, before you spend more money test the other three quarters by hand milking each of the quarters into a separate bucket then filter each sample using a new filter. Determine flow and inspect the filter once finished. A crude way of determining if any other sections have a high somatic cell count...Just a thought...Topside

Callieslamb · #9 11/27/10, 08:29 AM

Thanks Topside - the milk filters quickly and easily. We thought of this and tried it. Fine minds, hum! ?! I think we will still have the milk tested all 3 together just to be sure it isn't there waiting to grow. If it's there anywhere - we will probably cull her. If not - she is definately worth keeping.

ArmyDoc · #10 11/28/10, 02:27 PM

Not much more information that what has been presented already, but for what it's worth here's an article I found: http://www.uwex.edu/milkquality/pdf/pseudomonas.pdf

Callieslamb · #11 11/28/10, 02:43 PM

Thanks, that's the one I looked at first too. Oh well.....I will just call the vet tomorrow and ask him - if he even knows. He's not a cow Dr.

scholtefamily · #12 11/29/10, 03:17 PM

Callieslamb, sorry to hear about your cow. This sounds like what is going on with our cow. I sent in a sample to the vet today and will have results by the end of the week.

Praying for you that the other 3 quarters come back neg.

Callieslamb · #13 11/29/10, 07:15 PM

I haven't taken in the sample. To go to a private lab it's only $10.50 to test for the Pseudomas bacteria. I will see what the vet charged me. We figured out it didn't come from the well. We had to have that checked last year when we bought this place. Nothing. Which is good news.

southerngurl · #14 11/29/10, 11:17 PM

Garlic will help, as will colloidal silver orally. But unless you know someone with a silver machine it's too expensive for a cow.

You can get some granulated garlic from a herb supply place and mix large amounts in the grain (I would probably give 1/2 cup a few times a day- after a few days I would go to 2 times for a few more days). Also would add some ACV, with the "mother". Just pour some in the grain.