Content
Private and farm owners often face a variety of diseases in cattle. To provide first aid, you need to know the symptoms of various pathologies. One of the most common diseases is cattle abscess. How to deal with the disease further.
What is an abscess in cattle
To understand how to treat pets for an abscess, you need to know what kind of disease it is. An abscess is called an abscess or abscess that occurs in different parts of the body of cattle. These growths are a cavity that fills with pus. It is formed due to purulent inflammation of the cellulose, organs or tissues of the animal.
There are types of abscess:
- acute, subacute, chronic stage;
- infectious and aseptic;
- deep and superficial;
- benign and malignant;
- metastatic, cold and drip.
Specifically, an udder abscess is a consequence of a complication after catarrhal mastitis. Animals have problems with the milk ducts, which are clogged with pus. Milk production is reduced by 15-30%, but at the onset of the disease, the udder is not much different from the normal state. That is why it is not always possible to notice the onset of the disease.
If the treatment of udder abscess in cattle is not promptly started, the disease will begin to progress. The animal feels uncomfortable, as the temperature rises not only of the inflamed udder, but also of the whole body. With the transition to the chronic form, the indicators return to normal, but the part of the udder that was affected by the abscess becomes smaller, the production of pus decreases.
Causes of an udder abscess in cows
To understand what an udder abscess is, you need to know for what reasons the disease begins. Most often it occurs after purulent-catarrhal mastitis. In some cases, the disease can be a consequence of an inflammatory process in the genitals or other organs of the cow. Ulcers can arise from improperly delivered injections, as well as bruises, all sorts of injuries.
When an inflammatory process begins in the mammary glands of a cow, cavities are formed in them, in which pus accumulates. If there are several abscesses, then they can connect so that the affected area increases significantly.
It is not so easy to immediately see inflammation on the udder, because most often the abscess begins not on the surface of the mammary glands, but deep inside. But the disease is also dangerous because ulcers can burst during maturation, and the fluid accumulated in them turns out to be in the milk passages.
Symptoms
In order to timely determine the disease, seek help from specialists and take up treatment, you need to know the symptoms.
After purulent accumulations from the cavity enter the bloodstream, the disease can be determined by the state of the animal:
- The cow begins to chill, she is trembling all over. This is due to the sharp rise in temperature.
- Respiratory depression and increased heart rate are observed.
- The proportion of the udder, in which the cattle abscess began, increases in size, there are visible seals, tubercles appear.
The onset of the acute stage of the disease can be recognized by the changed composition of milk: pus appears in it.In addition, cattle abscess leads to a sharp decrease in milk yield. When the disease becomes chronic, the general condition of the cow deteriorates sharply.
Treatment of an udder abscess in a cow
It is difficult for real owners who care about the health of their pets to look at sick animals. If you have the above symptoms, you should call a specialist. It is important not to delay treatment, as pus from the cavity enters the bloodstream and can be fatal.
Unfortunately, in many rural areas there are no veterinary hospitals, so care cannot be started right away. A specialist who is not able to immediately go to the farm will give recommendations, and the owners must independently provide first aid.
Help before the doctor arrives
Until the veterinarian arrives to examine the sick cow, the owners must take care of her.
To do this, you need to place the cow in a separate stall, spread fresh bedding. Then, if the cow is not aggressive, apply lotions to the inflamed area. They are applied until the seal becomes soft.
You can make hot lotions for the treatment of cows yourself:
- From hay dust, bran, sawdust. These ingredients are steamed with boiling water, slightly cooled and applied to the sore spot.
- Lotions made of alcohol or ozokerite (mountain wax) help well.
- If there are therapeutic muds in the area, then before using them, they must be heated to a temperature slightly above room temperature, and applied to the udder of cattle in case of an abscess.
Until the veterinarian comes, animals with an abscess, in order to reduce the inflammatory process, it is advisable to feed several tablets of "Sulfadimezin" along with liquid food. The number of tablets will be indicated by the doctor, since it depends on the body weight of the cattle.
It is not recommended to carry out any cold compresses, massages on the udder of a cow, since such procedures can become provocateurs of the migration of harmful microbes throughout the body.
Veterinarian assistance
Arriving at the courtyard, the doctor carefully examines the cow. Depending on the condition and the form of cattle abscess, he decides on treatment.
Treatment for mild form
If the cattle abscess is fixed immediately and passes in a mild form, then it is often enough to prick the site of the disease with novocaine and penicillin or to make an injection on the border with a healthy area. Before chipping, even if the cow is calm, it must be tied up so as not to cause additional injury.
When the udder of the cow "freezes" a little, which means that the animal will not feel pain, open the abscess with a sharp scalpel. You only need to make one incision to collect the pus. After that, the wound is treated with special preparations and the animal is placed in a dry, clean room.
Deep bovine abscess
If the cattle abscess is deep, it will also have to be opened with one movement of the scalpel. Then a sterile needle is inserted into the abscess. With its help, dead cells are removed.
In any case, bleeding begins, which must be stopped. After that, the place of the cattle udder abscess should be treated with a chloramine solution. Ordinary hydrogen peroxide is also suitable for killing pathogenic microbes.
After opening the abscesses that occur with cattle abscess, treatment is continued with medication. Here are some of the most popular remedies for cattle abscess:
- "ASD-3" (100 ml);
- balsam "Dorogovoy" (No. 10);
- Desi spray (100 ml);
- "Genta-100" (100 ml).
Many veterinarians prefer to treat cows for udder abscess with the well-known Vishnevsky ointment. This drug is much cheaper than other medicines, but its effectiveness is excellent.
If time is lost
It often happens that cattle owners do not notice an abscess on the udder of a cow in time, especially when the cow is not milked. An abscess is noticed only when the abscesses become large. In this case, the veterinarian will first have to pump out the contents of the cavities using a rubber tube, which must be treated with antiseptics.
When the fluid is pumped out, the abscess is opened in the usual way. The wound with an abscess of cattle is treated with agents that include antibiotics, then healing ointments are applied.
To avoid death from cattle abscess, it is necessary to provide timely and correct assistance to cows. But preventive measures play a significant role. Cows grazing can injure the udder on tree branches and bushes. If scratches or wounds are noticed, they must be immediately treated with antiseptics so that suppuration does not begin.
Preventive actions
As already noted, prevention should be the trump card of the cattle owner in order to prevent infection. The same applies to cows who have had an abscess, since their immunity is sharply reduced:
- It is necessary to keep cattle in clean and dry stalls.
- The diet of cows should not only contain high-quality and varied feed, but also a sufficient amount of vitamins and mineral supplements.
- The condition of cattle should be of concern to the owners in order to prevent the development of purulent mastitis not only in dairy cows, but also in dry cows, pregnant first-calf heifers. After all, it is this disease that provokes an udder abscess. Cows and calves need to be examined daily, and any wounds should be treated.
It is important to understand that the resulting abscess can burst at any time. If you do not open it, pus will overflow into neighboring tissues and can cause the formation of phlegmon, leading to general blood poisoning. In this case, it will be impossible to save cattle from abscess.
Conclusion
Cattle abscess is a fairly common disease in both personal and farm households. You should not start treatment yourself if the owner does not have veterinary knowledge. This can only make the situation worse. You need to immediately contact a specialist, get advice from him, so that before the arrival of the veterinarian, you can begin to help the cow with an udder abscess.
