Prolapsed Rectum-RX Treatments?

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SEA

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Dec 29, 2008
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726
I have a bred cow with a prolapsed rectum.  She is now presumably due to calve in a couple weeks (as her due date was arrived upon by my vet palpation last fall.  The cow was natural bred by our herd bull and a bull sighting was NOT recorded).  The cow does not seem to be showing signs of getting "close" to calving.  Sprung vulva, enlarged bag, and etc.  She does not appear to be "fat", condition score of about a 6.
She started prolapsing over a month ago, she would prolapse her rectum and then, a day later, she would pull it back in.  Sometimes she would be fine for a few days and then prolapse again, and then repeat.  I called my vet and we decided to "let her go and to watch her for a while and see what transpired".  Then about two weeks ago she prolapsed it, and the rectum remained out.  The prolapse has continued to get larger and extend further out of the cow over the course of the last two weeks.  Today, I called my vet again and scheduled an appointment for a farm visit tomorrow.  First, I want him to palpate the cow and make sure she is still carrying a calf, and that she did not abort over the course of last winter.  Then have him "push the rectum back in and then sew her up".  I have had this happen once before and that is all my vet did. 

My question:  Is there anything else that I/or he could do in situation?

  1.  Wash or disinfect the rectum prior to pushing it back in?  With what type solution?
  2.  Spray rectum prior to re-inserting or after sewing up with Catron IV, as fly season has begun and to stop the growth of fly larvae and maggots?
  3.  Inject antibiotic such as a broad spectrum antibiotic as LA-200? To help stop any infection.

Just trying to cover all aspects.  Any help or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your time and concern.
 

SEA

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Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
726
Well, our vet was out today.  Checked her and she seems close to calving.  We induce labor.  We will see what happens.

UPDATE:  My mistake!  I wrote that the cow had a prolapsed "rectum".  I meant prolapsed "VULVA"!  :-\  That make way more sense.

MY APOLOGIES.  :(
 

SEA

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Dec 29, 2008
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726
Checked cow at a little after 11:00pm Saturday night and the cow had mucous membranes hanging from vulva.

At 3:30am Sunday check, cow had pulled rectal prolapse completely back inside.

At 7:30am Sunday check, cow still not doing anything.  She had laid in the same spot all night, so I got her up and got her "walking around".  Still, not in labor.
 

CAB

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Mar 5, 2007
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5,607
Location
Corning,Iowa
Most induced labors will occur 48 to 72 hours after the shots. What did he give her and how much of each? I would be nervous about inducing one that I was not 100% sure of the breeding date and no recycle myself. Please let us know how you get along. Good luck with her.
 

SEA

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Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
726
Injected 20cc Dexamethasone and 5cc Lutalyse Friday at approximately 4:00pm.  Thinking 48 hours would be Sunday at approximately 4:00pm for start of calving.
My vet also checked my cow and she had some milk when pulling her teat.

However, you never know the exact time for calving when inducing a cow.  There is always the possibility of the cow calving early to inducing, based on her own due date which may be sooner that 48 hours.

By approximately 5:00pm Sunday, and the cow having some discharge, we decided to palpate.  Found huge dead bull calf within, with head and both feet in position to calve.  VERY HARD PULL!  Extreme swelling in vulva and uterus obviously made the cow's calving on her own impossible, and also greatly hindered our manual pull.  Also, our concern, was of pulling the uterus totally out.  We were lucky and uterus went back in.
Our biggest concern then was to pull out the dead calf, without pulling out the cow's uterus and salvage the cow.  Got the dead bull calf out.  Injected cow with 60cc LA-200.  Cow got right up.  Now time will tell on her recovery.

Never really saw "good signs" of labor.  Saw some evidence at 3:30am Sunday morning, but she never really progressed.  Should have palpated her then.
 
Hindsight is 20-20.  My bad.  :(
 

CAB

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Mar 5, 2007
Messages
5,607
Location
Corning,Iowa
  Sorry to hear your outcome. You were trying to do everything that you could for the cow and like all of us it just didn't work out as you had hope had hoped.
 

CAB

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Mar 5, 2007
Messages
5,607
Location
Corning,Iowa
So sorry to hear it. I lost my last first calf heifer a few weeks ago. She calved 9 days early and had the calf just fine but then prolapsed her uterus and bled out. It is tough to lose them but we all do.
 

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