Paralyzed steer-any opinions?

[horsegirl82117]

Hi all, we have a Holstein steer down(500 lbs). He has been down for around 3-4 days now. We found him lying on our electric fence being shocked continuously We got him off the fence and called the vet right away. He was given an IV with dextrose, a shot of penicillin, a shot of banamine, and a selenium/ Vitamin A shot. The day after the vet came, we got him up with the tractor and he walked around for 5 mins before laying down again. We got him up again the next day and he walked around by himself for around 2 mins. Now we have him in the barn and lift him up with a winch daily. He doesn't even try to put any weight on his legs now. He is alert and sitting up rather than laying on his side. He also can roll from side to side and shift his weight. He can kinda get his butt up trying to get up but doesn't seem to have control of his feet. Any recommendations on what we can do for him? We are thinking he may have a spinal injury from our longhorn who likes to be a bully, he was lying down before we left to go to town, and was down on the fence in the same spot when we came back.(2 hr time frame). Does anyone have any past experience with downer cattle?

[M5farm]

Need to make a decision. If the vets prognosis is not good. Put the animal out of it misery. Most downers never get up.

[wr]

I've never had any luck with one that's been down that long but I would think the damage is likely nerve damage from the electric fence rather than another animal.

Once an animal has been down for a bit, the muscles atrophy and they lose the ability to get up and it gets progressively worse. You should check with your vet but in my experience, I've never had one improve.

[MO_cows]

The longer they stay down, the worse their chances. From the description, he is getting worse. Sorry, it doesn't sound like he is going to recover.

Does "bully longhorn" mean it tries to mount everybody, or it's aggressive toward the others? Aggressive, convert to cash or hamburger. Trying to breed anything and everything, there's a procedure to fix that!

[secuono]

IDK if you can even eat him now that you've drugged him. You'll have to check on that before even letting your dogs eat him.
I agree it's most likely time to bury him.

[agmantoo]

See if your vet will provide a shot of dex for you to administer to the animal. I had a bull that was abused by several other bulls and it took him a while to recover but he did after giving him the dex. Being a young animal I feel there is a better chance of recovery. An older animal down and I would agree with those above. At 500lbs the risk reward is in favor of waiting IMO. I know that dex is used on the rodeo bulls when they go down and it often has good results.

http://www.drugs.com/vet/dexamethasone-solution.html

[chester5731]

Years ago we had a 100/lb calf go down for no aparent reason. When Dad was at the chiropractors office he mentioned it. The chiro came out and checked him out and figured he had a pinched nerve in the neck. He gave the little fella a work over and showed us some thing to do over the next couple days. After a day and a half the little fella was up and walking. Might have just got lucky on that one.

[lakeportfarms]

I'd do the Dex, and if he has white muscle, he'll need another shot of BoSe a few days after the first. It could take up to 7-10 days for him to get up. Worth waiting to see. But he won't be a candidate for meat if he's down, plus you've done all the meds, unless you're ok with that and you do the butchering yourself.

[M5farm]

The animal has been down for at least 7 days already. Hope is one thing but reality is another. Not putting him out of his misery is cruel and inhumane. It's yours to do what you want but sometimes we have to make hard choices. Most farms will only let a Cow suffer 48 hrs 72 max. If he ain't walking he's suffering.