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Owners of private and farm households often face various diseases in cattle. To provide first aid, you need to know the symptoms of various pathologies. One of the most common diseases is an abscess in cattle. Learn more about how to deal with illness.
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 abscesses or abscesses that occur on different parts of the body of cattle. These neoplasms are a cavity that is filled with pus. It is formed due to purulent inflammation of the fiber, 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 leaky.
Specifically, an udder abscess is a consequence of a complication after catarrhal mastitis. Animals have problems with milk passages that clog pus. Milk production becomes lower by 15-30%, but at the beginning of the disease, the udder is not much different from the usual state. That is why it is not always possible to notice the onset of the disease.
If the treatment of an udder abscess in cattle is not started in a timely manner, the disease will begin to progress. The animal feels uncomfortable, as the temperature rises not only of the inflamed udder, but 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 udder abscess in cows
To understand what an udder abscess is, you need to know why the disease begins. Most often it occurs after purulent-catarrhal mastitis. In some cases, the disease can be a consequence of the inflammatory process in the genital or other organs of the cow. Ulcers can arise from incorrectly delivered injections, as well as bruises, various kinds of injuries.
When the inflammatory process begins in the mammary glands of a cow, cavities form 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 see inflammation on the udder right away, because most often the abscess does not begin on the surface of the mammary glands, but deep inside. But the disease is dangerous because the abscesses can burst when ripe, and the fluid accumulated in them ends up in the milk ducts.
Symptoms
In order to timely identify the disease, seek help from specialists and engage in 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 a sharp rise in temperature.
- There is respiratory depression and increased heart rate.
- The proportion of the udder, in which the abscess of cattle began, increases in size, seals are noticeable on it, tubercles appear.
The beginning of the acute stage of the disease can be recognized by the changed composition of milk: pus appears in it. In addition, the abscess of cattle leads to a sharp decrease in milk yield. When the disease becomes chronic, the general condition of the cow worsens 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. In the presence of the above symptoms, you must invite 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 clinics, so help cannot be started right away. A specialist who does not have the opportunity 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 it.
To do this, you need to place the cow in a separate stall, spread fresh bedding. Then, if the cow is not aggressive, put a lotion on the inflamed area. They are applied until the seal becomes soft.
Hot lotions for treating cows can be done independently:
- From dust from hay, bran, sawdust. These ingredients are steamed with boiling water, slightly cooled and applied to the sore spot.
- Lotions from alcohol or ozocerite (mountain wax) help well.
- If there are therapeutic muds in the area, then before use they must be heated to a temperature slightly above room temperature, and applied to the udder of cattle with an abscess.
Until the veterinarian arrives, in order to reduce the inflammatory process, it is advisable to feed a few tablets of Sulfadimezin to animals with an abscess along with liquid food. The number of tablets will be indicated by the doctor, as 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 provoke the migration of harmful microbes throughout the body.
Help from a veterinarian
Arriving at the farmstead, the doctor carefully examines the cow. Depending on the condition and form of the bovine abscess, he decides on the treatment.
Treatment for mild
If a cattle abscess is fixed immediately and passes in a mild form, then it is often enough to stab the site of the disease with novocaine and penicillin or make an injection at the border with a healthy area. Before chipping, even if the cow is calm, it must be tied so as not to cause additional injury.
When the cow’s udder “freezes” a little, which means that the animal will not feel pain, an abscess should be opened with a sharp scalpel. Only one incision is needed 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 bovine 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 abscess of the cattle udder must be treated with a solution of chloramine. Ordinary hydrogen peroxide is also suitable for the destruction of pathogenic microbes.
After opening the abscesses that occur during the abscess of cattle, treatment is continued with the help of medications. Here are some of the most popular medications for bovine abscess:
- “ASD-3” (100 ml);
- balm “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 the effectiveness of its use is excellent.
If time is lost
It often happens that cattle owners do not notice an abscess on the cow’s udder in time, especially when the cow is not being milked. They notice an abscess 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 liquid is pumped out, the abscess is opened in the usual way. The wound with a cattle abscess is treated with agents that include antibiotics, then healing ointments are applied.
To avoid death from a cattle abscess, it is necessary to provide assistance to cows in a timely and correct manner. But preventive measures play a significant role. Cows, while grazing, can injure the udder on the branches of trees and shrubs. If scratches or wounds are noticed, they must be immediately treated with antiseptics so that suppuration does not begin.
Preventive measures
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 recovered from an abscess, since their immunity is sharply reduced:
- Keep cattle in clean and dry stalls.
- In the diet of cows, there should be not only high-quality and varied feed, but also a sufficient amount of vitamins and mineral supplements.
- The condition of cattle should worry the owners in order to prevent the development of purulent mastitis not only in dairy cows, but also in barren cows and first-calf heifers. After all, it is this disease that provokes an udder abscess. Cows and calves should be inspected daily and treated for any wounds.
It is important to understand that the resulting abscess can burst at any time. If you do not open it, the 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 an abscess.
Conclusion
An abscess in cattle is a fairly common disease in both personal and farm households. Do 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, start helping the cow with an udder abscess.
