Content
Cattle often suffer from skin diseases. And this is not deprived, although there are enough of them. Various bumps and swelling in cows are found in viral diseases and inflammatory processes. Even an oncological tumor is possible. A lump found in a calf in the neck or head can be a relatively harmless abscess or a serious fungal infection. There are many options for when a cow develops an incomprehensible swelling on the body.
Causes of bumps in a calf or cow
The bump is a loose concept. This word denotes both small hard formations with clear boundaries, and soft swellings that gradually come to naught. There are many reasons for the appearance of certain "bumps":
- allergy to parasite bites;
- inflammatory reaction to injection;
- actinomycosis;
- hypodermatosis;
- lumpy dermatitis;
- abscess;
- inflamed lymph nodes in infectious diseases.
Sometimes the cause is determined independently if the appearance of the cones is very characteristic. But more often you have to call the veterinarian.
Allergic reaction
The first cases of the disease are recorded in calves. The manifestations of allergies in cows are as different as in humans. It depends on the individual characteristics of the calves. Food is manifested as swelling on the cow's neck and bumps all over the body. The latter go away on their own after the elimination of the allergen. Edema is more dangerous, since with its further development, the calf can die from suffocation. Also, an allergic reaction in cows is expressed in lacrimation and profuse discharge from the nasal cavity.
The only really working way to treat a disease is to eliminate the allergen from the environment. Without this, all other actions will be useless. Since it is difficult to find an allergen even in humans, calves with manifestations of the disease are usually handed over for meat. Antihistamines are prescribed by your veterinarian. He also determines the dose for the calf based on its weight and age. Not all "human" antihistamines are suitable for cows. Some of them just don't work, others may even kill the calf.
Provided that the lump has arisen at the injection site. Otherwise, with a high degree of probability, it is an abscess.
It rarely reaches bumps all over the body in calves and adult animals, this requires thin, delicate skin, but other signs of allergies are quite common
Actinomycosis
A fungal disease that cows are most susceptible to. The name of the causative agent is Actinomyces bovis. Belongs to the genus Actinomyces. The opinion that this is a fungus is present in Russian-language sources. English speakers indicate that it is a gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium. An anaerobic type of microorganism is pathogenic.
The causative agent of the disease is not resistant to high temperatures: it dies within 5 minutes at 70-90 ° C. But at subzero temperatures, the bacterium remains viable for 1-2 years. In 3% formaldehyde dies after 5-7 minutes.
Cases of infection are recorded year-round, but most often the disease of calves with actinomycosis occurs in winter and spring due to a decrease in immunity. The pathogen enters the cow's body through any damage to the external integument:
- injuries to the oral mucosa or skin;
- cracks in the teats of the udder;
- castration wounds;
- when changing teeth in calves.
A distinctive feature of the disease is a dense bump (actinoma) on the cheekbone of a calf or an adult cow, since the bacteria most often affects the bones and tissues of the lower jaw.
When ripe, the lump opens, and creamy pus begins to come out of the fistula. With the development of the disease, an admixture of blood and pieces of dead tissue appear in the pus. The calf's overall body temperature is usually normal. An increase occurs only when the disease is complicated by a secondary infection or the spread of bacteria throughout the body. Animals lose weight if the bumps have "grown" in the pharynx or larynx. The tumors make it difficult for the calf to breathe and swallow food. Self-healing is very rare.
Treatment
An iodine solution is used intravenously. In the treatment of the disease, penicillin is used, which is injected into the lump on the cheek of a cow for a course of 4-5 days. Oxytetracycline has proven itself well. The dose for calves up to a year is 200 thousand units in 5-10 ml of saline. For animals older than 1 year, the dose is 400 thousand units. The antibiotic is first injected into the healthy tissue around the bump on the calf's cheek. Next, pus is sucked out of the fistula with a syringe and "replaced" with oxytetracycline. Course 2 weeks. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are also recommended. In advanced cases, they resort to surgical intervention and cut out the entire bump.
Prophylaxis
Calves are not grazed on wetland pastures. Avoid giving roughage, especially with thorny plants, or steaming it before serving. The straw is calcined.
The characteristic location of the lump in a cow with actinomycosis
Hypodermatosis
A parasitic disease caused by gadflies from the genus Hypoderma. In common parlance, they are called subcutaneous. The most common types:
- Hypoderma bovis;
- Hypoderma lineatum;
- Hypoderma tarandi.
The latter species is also called a deer gadfly. He lives in the northern regions and attacks mainly deer. The first two are subcutaneous gadflies of cattle, but bovis is a European species, and lineatum is a North American one.
The genus Hypodermus includes 6 species. Parasites are not specialized. The same species lays eggs on any mammal that turns up, including cats and dogs. But they prefer large animals. Gadfly eggs are laid on the legs of cattle. The breeding season for parasites is from June to October. Each female lays up to 800 eggs, from which larvae emerge in a few days.
The latter penetrate under the skin and begin to move upward. The end point of the "journey" is the back and sacrum of the cow. The movement lasts 7-10 months. This duration of the disease is already considered chronic. The larvae of the last stage form solid cones with a respiratory opening in the middle on the upper line of the animal body. You can feel the nodules between February and July. The larvae live in cones for 30-80 days, after which they leave the host.
The death of animals is not beneficial to parasites, but during the course of hypodermatosis, cattle lose weight, cows reduce milk yield, and calves slow down in development. After the larvae emerge and the holes in the bumps are overgrown, scars remain on the cow's skin. This reduces the quality of the skins. The timing of slaughter is disrupted, since it is not recommended to slaughter sick calves because of too large losses of meat. Cones must be cut out during slaughter. So up to 10 kg of meat is lost.
Treatment and prevention
Preventive treatment is carried out in September-November. Use drugs that cause the death of the first stage larvae. Further, to prevent the spread of the disease next year, the herd is examined in March-May. All livestock grazing last summer is being checked.
It is best to feel the cow when inspecting. This makes it more likely to find bumps in winter wool.Although the larvae usually "prefer" the back and sacrum, nodules can be found elsewhere. If, during a spring examination, a lump was found on the cow's neck, this may also be a gadfly larva.
If you find nodules with breathing holes on animals, you should contact your veterinarian. He will prescribe drugs that destroy the larvae in the last stage and advise how long it will take to eat the products from the treated cows. With a strong infection of parasites from the cones, you will have to remove it manually to avoid intoxication of the body after the death of the larvae
In the end, the larvae from the cones will emerge on their own, but before that they will greatly exhaust their prey.
Nodular dermatitis
The new viral disease originates from southern countries. Widely distributed in Africa and India. The main symptom is flat bumps all over the body of a calf or cow. The disease is caused by viruses related to goat pox. Both calves and adults are infected equally. The main vectors of lumpy dermatitis in Russia are blood-sucking insects. It is believed that in southern countries, the causative agent of the disease is carried by birds, in particular herons.
Livestock mortality accounts for only 10% of diseased animals. But dermatitis causes significant economic damage:
- a sharp decline in the quantity and quality of milk;
- weight loss in calves fed for meat;
- abortion, infertility and stillbirth in breeding queens;
- temporary infertility of bulls.
The first sign of the disease is the appearance of dry bumps. And anywhere, from head to udder and legs. The disease is poorly understood. Perhaps the location of the bump depends on where the virus originally entered.
If left unchecked, the bumps will quickly cover the entire body of the cow, forming a kind of hard covering instead of skin. The rapid spread is due to the fact that the virus is carried through the bloodstream.
Lumpy skin disease symptoms
The latent period of the disease in natural conditions in cows lasts from 2 to 4 weeks. In the acute form of lumpy dermatitis, the following are characteristic:
- temperature 40 ° C for 4-14 days;
- lacrimation;
- refusal of feed;
- mucus or pus from the mouth and nose;
- the appearance of bumps 2 days after the transition of dermatitis to the clinical stage;
- the occurrence of nodules throughout the body.
In severe cases of the disease, bumps appear on the mucous membranes of the oral and nasal cavities, vulva and foreskin. They also often appear on the eyelids, scratching the cornea. Due to constant irritation, the cornea becomes cloudy and the cow becomes blind.
Typically, lumps of lumpy dermatitis have a diameter of 0.2-7 cm. They are round, well-defined. In the center of each bump there is a depression, which turns into a "cork" after 1-3 weeks. Later, the tubercle is opened. An unpleasant-smelling mucus oozes from it.
After recovery, the bumps disappear. Where they were, the hair falls out and the skin flakes off.
Later, they dissolve or turn into dry scabs, under which there is granulation tissue.
Calf with advanced lumpy skin disease
Treatment and prevention
Neither one nor the other in application to lumpy dermatitis exists. Calves are treated symptomatically, treating festering wounds with disinfectants. A course of antibiotics is given to cows to prevent the development of a secondary infection that penetrates the damaged skin.
As a prophylaxis of the disease, a live goat pox vaccine is used. But this does not always work. There are no ways to passively prevent the disease.
Close-up dermatitis bumps, depressions in the middle of the tubercles are visible, which later turn into detachable plugs
Abscess
Abscesses are common in cows and calves. Most often they arise from injuries to the mucous membranes when eating roughage.Inflammation is also possible if the skin is damaged. Sometimes it is a reaction after vaccination. Practice shows that a hard hot lump on the neck of a cow is an abscess in the initial stage. While the abscess is ripening or is deep, the lump is firm. As the abscess matures, the tissues become soft. At any stage, the tumor is painful.
If the pus "went" to the outside, the skin at the site of the abscess becomes inflamed, the wool crawls out. But abscesses located close to the internal cavities often break through. The latter is especially dangerous for calves, since the tumor is very large and blocks the airways, and the animal can choke with the bursting purulent mass.
With the "internal" opening of suppuration, the inflammatory process often turns into a chronic stage. A capsule forms around the site of inflammation, and the lump of the abscess from the outside seems to be solid.
The treatment is not fancy. They wait until the abscess matures, and open it, giving an outlet for pus.
The vacant cavity is washed with disinfectants until the solution starts to pour out clean. Sewing up the wound is undesirable, since drainage is necessary. Dead tissue comes out for several days. In addition, the cavity must be flushed every day. And sometimes several times a day.
An abscess on the cheeks of calves and cows is often caused by damage to internal tissues due to changing or improper grinding of teeth
What to do if a cow or calf has bumps on the neck
First of all, find out the cause of the appearance, since the method of treating cones depends on the type of disease. An abscess is often heated to accelerate its maturation and open it. A bump on a cow's jaw can be an inflamed lymph node: a symptom, not a cause of the disease. And even in the "simplest" case, the defeat of the animal by gadfly larvae, you will have to call a veterinarian. Without surgical skills, it is better not to open the cones on your own.
The only option, when it is unlikely that something can be done, is a bump after vaccination. Animals react worst of all to anthrax. After this vaccine, bumps or swelling often develop at the injection site.
Conclusion
If a calf has a bump on the head or neck, first of all determine the cause of its appearance. Since it is unlikely to be possible to do this on your own, you need to invite a veterinarian. In some cases, the treatment of "bumps" must be started as soon as possible.
