Liver Fluke Question

[StockDogLovr]

Is it possible for a cow to have liver flukes and yet the fecal comes out negative for eggs?

M heifer Betty, from a previous post, has been wasting away and though we live in a dry area, we do have a ditch coming through the property that creates a "green belt" during the brown dry season, and it culminates in a pond. I have discovered fresh-water snails in my water trough, and how they got there I don't know, but it stands to reason that the snails could be in the wet areas serving as intermediate hosts. I find myself wanting to throw a dose of Valbazen at her but don't want to stress her out with it since she's had other wormers, antibiotics, etc. recently and blood work points towards liver as being the source of her decline. I thought I'd be hauling her to be put down and disposed of today, but oddly she is eating more vigorously today, had virtually completely lost her appetite over the weekend. She really seems to have a strong will to live.

[idigbeets]

No test is 100% accurate, especially fecal tests. You could retest...

If she's having so many problems, costing so much $$, I'd get rid of her.

[Ronney]

Having lost a cow to Liver Fluke when we first moved here, this isn't an issue that I muck around with. Every single cattle beast on my property gets drenched for it twice a year irrespective of whether they are showing signs of it or not. I don't have faecals done, I know that it's a problem here with our swamps, river and drains. I use Genesis Ultra pour-on. Is she showing the bottlejaw common with LF?

Also, if the problems appear to stem from her liver, is there a chance that it is something such as liver abscesses, FE, something poisonous that she has ingested or the result of bacterial infection? The problem is that the same symtoms can be displayed by any number of things.

Cheers,
Ronnie