A Calving Call

Last week, Dr. McGraw received a phone call from a frantic, crazy woman who said her first-time heifer was calving and that she (the heifer) had been up and down pushing for 1 1/2 hrs with nothing to show for it. So, Dr. McGraw made a quick trip home to placate the frantic, crazy woman and to check one of her (and his) cows. (Yes, the crazy woman, his wife -- a vet herself-- could have checked that heifer, but she didn't have any chains or calf-puller at her disposal, and besides that she likes to see her husband come home in the middle of the day--any excuse is a good excuse!)

"Luna" the cow had been off by herself all morning, getting up, laying down, trying to find a place to get away from all the strange pain and discomfort she had been feeling. I had been watching her carefully since this was her first time calving. I was sure she had been in active labor for 3 hrs and pushing for 1 1/2hrs, and I had not seen any evidence of the amniotic sack rupturing or any feet sticking out, I gave Dr. McGraw a call to see if he could come out and check her. She was a raised as a bottle calf so she is still very tame -- he was able to walk right up to her and check her.

The amniotic sac ruptured as he palpated and he was able to feel front feet and pull them out part way. When the sac ruptured, we could tell that the amniotic fluid was filled with {meconium} -- a sign that the calf was under stress. The calf was moving its feet though so we could tell it was still alive. Luna was trying hard to push with every contraction, but she wasn't getting very far even with help, so Dr. McGraw ran back to his truck to get the chains.

Notice the double wrap on the chains -- this helps alleviate any damage that the chains might cause on the legs when the calf is being pulled.

PULL!!!! HARD!!!! PUSH, LUNA, PUSH!!!!

No luck! Together, man and beast can only get the calf out as far as it's nose.

Time to get out the calf puller. Hang on there little calf!

A few contractions and a few ratchets on the calf puller and the calf is out. Yeah!
Ummmm.... the photographer forgot to take pictures while the calf was coming out. Sorry!

Hello little lady. So glad you could join us. Did you know that you are covered in poo?

Luna, meet your baby. Clean her up real good. This right here is the cause of all your discomfort and pain.

Enough cooing. Dr. McGraw has work to do. He checks to make sure all 4 quarters are opened up, and then he is back to the clinic. Thanks Dr. McGraw!

Within 10 minutes of being born, the calf is already trying to get up and find the milk bar. It amazes me everytime how quickly a calf goes from being in the water world of the womb to terra firma and walking on legs that have never stood before in just a matter of minutes.

Look at that calf go! Just hours later she is kicking up her heels. Would Luna have been able to have her calf on her own? Probably. Hopefully. But it would have been quite awhile later and the calf may not have faired so well had the labor gone on for much longer.

AVMA Convention

Last weekend, Dr. McGraw and myself attending the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Convention in Seattle at the Convention Center. As part of our quest as veterinarians to keep up with changing techniques, diseases, and pharmacology, we attend continuing education meetings every year. The AVMA is the national organization for veterinarians. The organization does more than just collect dues, it is a political base for lobbying for the profession and for animals.

As you can see in the above photo, the meetings were packed. Every lecture that we attended there was standing room only. We learned many new things, refreshed our memories on old things, and saw some vet school classmates. The meetings were nicely organized and the material was relevant to everyday practice -- I like continuing education that is ready to be applied when you walk out the door and into your practice.

Fly Control

Tis the season for flies -- flies feeding on your cattle, flies biting on your horses, and flies munching on your picnic. Flies are nasty and a nuisance, but why should you be concerned about controlling them on your livestock and horses? Let's make a list.

1. Flies spread diseases such as pink eye and upper respiratory viruses in cattle. Horse flies are reported to be one of the major vectors in the spread of Equine Infectious Anemia.
2. Flies lay eggs which turn into maggots in a wound or moist area on an animal. These maggots can cause major infections in the skin and deeper tissues if not treated.
3. Bot flies or heel flies lay eggs on the legs of cattle and horses that are ingested by the animals and then the larvae travel through the body causing damage and can eventually rupture out through the skin (makes you cringe). Another type of fly lays eggs that hatch and burrow into the skin causing "pigeon breast" in horses.
4. Flies bite the ventral thorax and abdomen of cattle and horses causing "summer sores." These are raw, irritated, and tender areas. Horses get bites in their ears causing them to be bloody and tender, and thus making them more head shy.
   
5. Bites from many flies causes generalized annoyance and decreased milk production in cattle.
6. Do we need to continue?
   

So what do we recommend for treating flies in cattle and horses? Well, our preferred fly control in cattle is Ultra Saber. It is a pour-on product that can last 1-3 months depending on the amount of precipitation that we get. We just treated our cows with it two weekends ago and they are fly-free right now. Great product and a great price (under a $1 per head).

For horses we recommend Equi-Spot. This product is also a pour-on type application that lasts 2-3 weeks depending on precipitation and sweating. This 3-pack costs under $10. Many people ask about fly sprays. They work OK, but you have to apply them daily for the best fly control.

Bottom-line, fly control is important not only for your picnic, but for your livestock and horses as well. Have a great 4th of July!

Canine C-section

Meet Bailey. She is a 4 year old Blue Heeler. She is a miracle dog. About 3 weeks ago she was involved in an accident with a 4-wheeler and presented to us with paralysis of her hind legs. She was unable to move her legs and could feel no pain when we pinched her toes. We referred her on to WSU-CVM for possible surgery on her back. However, a few hours later, she was able to use her hind legs and proceeded to return to normal over the course of a few days. We have no answer as to her miraculous recovery, and neither does the veterinary college.

But that is not why Bailey is here today. Bailey has been in active labor for approximately 12 hrs now and has produced no puppies. It is time to make a decision. Considering the last time she whelped she had to have a c-section, the decision to cut again is unanimous. An ultrasound done at the veterinary college showed that the pups were doing well. We don't want to lose them by waiting longer.

Bailey was hooked to an EKG machine so she could be monitored for the duration of the procedure, anesthetized, and prepped for surgery. A dog's EKG looks similar to the picture you always see of a human pattern. The pattern you see in the above picture looks a little different because we are using an esophageal probe and not clip-on leads to measure the EKG. The dips in the pattern correspond with her respiration.

Bailey is covered with a sterile drape and an incision is made into the abdomen.

Bailey's owner has elected to go ahead and have her spayed during the process. You can see both horns of the uterus above --one puppy is in each horn. There can be many puppies in each horn, but Bailey only has two this time. The uterus with the puppies inside is clamped off and removed and the puppies are quickly taken out of the uterus.

The pups are cleaned up, evaluated, and stimulated to encourage breathing. They are a little sleepy because the anesthesia given to Bailey is also effecting them.

Bailey's abdomen is closed as quickly as possible so Bailey can begin to take care of her new family.

The pups get weighed-13oz each-- big girls! These are not small puppies, no wonder Baily was having troubles.

Within 10 minutes after being removed from the surgery table Bailey is sitting up proudly showing off her girls. All's well that ends well.

(All photos courtesy of J. Meek)

Tick Season is Upon Us

Tick season is in full swing on the Palouse. If you live in an area with lots of brush or tall grass, or you have visited such a place, you already know that. We have seen quite a few ticks at the clinic and have been dispensing tick products like crazy. So, why would you want to spend good, hard earned money on a tick product when you can remove the ticks yourself? Well, because it is summer and you are busy. You have good intentions to check your dogs and cats for ticks, but life just gets in the way.

Why is tick control important? Because ticks can cause systemic and localized diseases in your pet. If a tick is allowed to attach to a pet or person, at the very least a localized infection can occur, and at the very worst, systemic diseases such as Lyme Disease, Babesiosis, or Tick Paralysis could be the result. By controlling ticks on our pets, we can help to keep ticks out of our homes and off ourselves as well (good hygiene is still important ;). Here is a {good link} from Washington State Department of Health to find out about the health aspects of tick bites in humans. Much of what they have to say is applicable to dogs as well.

We recommend Frontline Topspot for ticks. We don't have a flea problem in most of our county, so Frontline Plus is not really needed. We like the ease of application, the quality of protection, and the price. You can find a coupon for Frontline on their website linked above.

Here is another {good link} from Cornell University that talks about tick species, life cycle, and behavior. The common ticks that we have around here are the American Dog Tick and the Brown Dog Tick. We occasionally get a Spinous Ear Tick found mostly down by the Snake River. When we get another one in, I will be sure to get a picture to show you. They sound scary, but are just mostly interesting (unless you have it in your ear!).

So why does it seem that dogs get more ticks than cats? I think the main reason is that most cats are fastidious groomers, so they would likely remove a tick before it has a chance to get attached. But, it does happen--cats can have ticks -- so be sure and check your cats for ticks as well.

A Tale of Two Horses

This is a tale of two horses, with two different owners, and two different problems, but both are fine examples of why I.V. sedatives and anesthetics are handy things to have. Both of these horses came to our large animal facilities located at our home. Sometimes it is just easier to get the trailers in and out at our place, and there is more room to lay the horses down if need be.


The first horse, an old brood mare, had been having a weepy eye since the first part of the week. The owner couldn't really find anything wrong but as the week progressed, the eye continued to get worse. Dr. McGraw tried to examine the eye with some I.V. sedative, but the eye was too painful and an I.V. anesthetic was also required. The old mare wasn't too keen on being anesthetized, so she required another dose before she decided she just may as well go ahead and lie down.

From the picture you can see how swollen and red the conjunctiva is, the thick exudative tears, and the clouding of the cornea. The arrow is pointing to an ulcer on the cornea where a foreign object (pointed out below) was removed.


Luckily for this mare, the ulcer was not very deep, and with antibiotic ointment applied to her eye as directed, the eye should heal up nicely without too much scarring.


(The mare decided to have a little snooze since she was feeling a little drugged up at the moment.)


The second horse, a well muscled, 4- year- old quarter horse gelding, was lacking a little horse sense because he decided to smell a porcupine. He didn't have very many quills in his muzzle, but he wouldn't even let Dr. McGraw approach him without snorting and shying away, let alone trying to pull out the broken off quills. So he too was given an I.V. sedative.



The sedative worked like a charm and the quills were out in no time. (Just a second--I have to wipe blood and puss off the camera because he just snorted gunk all over it.) The swelling and discharge should clear up and his muzzle will be feeling much better in a few days as long as he continues to eat the antibiotics hidden in his grain.

A Down Cow

Seven AM on a beautiful Saturday morning--Ring! Ring! Down cow.

Coffee and toast to go, please ma'am.

Thirty minutes later--here's the three day old calf--a beautiful Shorthorn.

And here's the poor mama. She is not in very good shape. Being that she is pastured on new grass and just calved, odds are that she has an electrolyte imbalance called "grass tetanus".

But no, instead she has a very bad case of mastitis--or infection of her mammary glands.When she weaned her last calf, some bacteria probably got into the mammary gland and sat there until she started producing milk again. Then the bacteria started growing crazy on all the fresh milk. Sometimes it hits so fast you just find a dead cow. But in this case the left hind quarter was a dead sack of pus and the cow was so toxic she couldn't get up.

The only choice is to cut our losses (excuse the pun) and cut off the dead quarter so that the pus could drain out in the hopes that the toxins produced by the bacteria and dead tissue would drain out of the body instead of being forced deeper into the cow. She would never have been able to make milk in that quarter again anyway.

She didn't actually feel a thing because the tissue was dead, and as you can see-- there was very little bleeding. The drainage on the ground is the pus that was trapped inside. You can just imagine the odors that went along with it.

I treated her with some antibiotics, pain medications, and electrolytes and left some meds for the owner to continue treatment. It took a little assistance from the tractor, pulling, pushing, rolling, and a little grunting to help her sit up. She looks better, but has a long way to go...only time will tell. The calf will get introduced to milk replacer in a bottle. It won't be as good, but it's best option.