Red Cell for anemic cow

dragonmorgan · #1 12/14/12, 12:37 PM

I've got a cow that is down and anemic. I have decided to give her Red Cell but I am not sure how much to give her. She is only about 2 yrs old and is pretty small for her age. Anyway the jug I got only gives dosing instructions for horses and I was wondering if anyone has ever used it on their cattle or if anyone knows how much I should give her and how often.

oregon woodsmok · #2 12/14/12, 12:43 PM

If she is down, I'd go with an iron shot right away and then add the red cell to her diet. If she is down, you've got to get her up as quickly as you can. You don't have time to fix her with her diet.

Are you 100% certain that it is iron and not calcium she needs?

dragonmorgan · #3 12/14/12, 01:27 PM

I am pretty sure it is iron. We are thinkin she is down because of parasites and her gums are very white with no color change when pressed. I dont have any of the iron on me in shot form and i am not sure if i can make it to town today. Can i give her a dose of red cell until i can get the iron shot? She has already been down for a while so i am afraid to put any of it off ya know?

I also got a calcium drench just in case she needed it, should i give that to her also?

G. Seddon · #4 12/14/12, 02:51 PM

How did you determine that this cow is anemic? Any cow that is down is usually considered an emergency...please call your vet!

dragonmorgan · #5 12/14/12, 04:03 PM

I checked her gums and they are very white. Thats why we are figurin she is anemic. I have already called the vet. She said to just just keep doin what we are doin and hope she gets back up so we are really on our own with it.

G. Seddon · #6 12/14/12, 04:11 PM

A 2 yr. old cow has been down for how long and has not improved? Did she calve? Wow, I'd be calling another vet.

dragonmorgan · #7 12/14/12, 04:26 PM

6 days, no she did not calve, and I know of no other large animal vets around here.

myheaven · #8 12/14/12, 07:48 PM

Stories like This make me love my vet more. She called me. She was going to be in my area and wanted to know if I needed a preg check or anything else. She's pretty awesome! I tell her what I need and she gets it for me. Even on a Sunday during her daughters birthday party!

Jersey/guernsey · #9 12/14/12, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G. Seddon

A 2 yr. old cow has been down for how long and has not improved? Did she calve? Wow, I'd be calling another vet.

Me to!

Unless you’ve seen a gradual decline its more likely shock which also causes pale gums. Check her temperature is it low? Has she been sick (infection can cause these symptoms)? It could be an injury, internal bleeding?

G. Seddon · #10 12/17/12, 05:00 PM

Any update on this cow?

dragonmorgan · #11 12/17/12, 09:25 PM

Not much to report really. We picked up some iron injection and gave her her first shot of that last night. We also got some calf manna and beet pulp pellets that I will add to her feed tom to hopefully give her some more energy and help the weight gain along. The weather here last night and today was rough and it rained all night and most of today. I don't know how that will affect her though but the shelter she is under isn't the most water tight and it normally isn't a big problem but because she is laying down the water just puddled around her. We picked up some penicillin in case she gets sick and we end up needing it.

The only real change came today. I went out to roll her to her other side and check her feed (I didn't want to do much else because I knew she felt like junk after the storm) and when I got her to the halfway point, where all her legs were tucked underneath her, she started tryin to get up. It was, by far, the best effort she has made so far. We decided to go ahead and lift her up so DH lifted the back and I got her front up. Usually DH supports nearly all her weight on the back and I stay up front and make sure her front legs don't buckle and she doesn't lean to far to the side but today DH said she managed to support some of her weight and she kept her own self balanced and kept her front feet under her. We managed to keep her up for a min or 2 and I engouraged her to move and wiggle with some feed but she ran out of energy so we lowered her back down. It was an encouraging sign considering her previous attempts so hopefully with the other things that we are adding in she will get more energy and we can work on her leg strength.

We are going to have to fashion a lifting sling for her and rig it up somehow since we don't have a tractor we can use and hopefully that will make her off the ground sessions more productive. I am also having trouble finding hay she will eat. The first time I brought her some hay she ate it all, when I brought her more she picked through it and only ate a few sprigs. I'm pulling it off a round bale we have with our other herd and I figured I had maybe grabbed her some that was in a bad spot on the bale. Today when I brought her some (from a new bale that looked like it was mostly bahia grass) she only nibbled at it. I don't know if the quality of hay isn't to her liking or if it's something else but we have been planning on getting her a bale of horse hay or some alfalfa hay from TSC and seein how she likes it.