retain placenta

I have a cow that calved thursday early am, and I dont think she has passed the placenta yet. She acts fine and calf is doing well, what should I do? thanks

5cc's of lut and some anti-biotics won't hurt her.

She might have ate it.

6cc lut

How long do I wait until I give her the lut? thanks

We did 6 cc of lute and pen is what we did with one a few weeks ago.

if she hasn't cleaned by the 3rd day you need to clean her, put some after calf boluses in her and give her a shot of antibiotics. my dad was a vet and he taught me to do it before i decided to be a cpa. it's a nasty job.

The current procedure is to give lute and antibiotics but vets are now saying don't pull it out like it use to be done.  Check with your vet on what you can use besides Lute, but that should work. 

Yep...we would give her 5 cc of lutalyse. Penicillin won't hurt to fight infection, but it won't help with the actual cleaning out. Uterine boluses and infusing the uterus with antibiotics are last resort options...the thinking is you'd rather not go inside her from the outside if you can get her to clean off without havin to do that. The process is likely to contaminate the tract with more bacteria. The lutalyse should do the trick.

Btw you seem unsure...5 cc of lute won't hurt anything if she doesn't need it, but I'm curious why you think she may not have cleaned off if it isn't obvious. That's usually not real difficult to diagnose.

I'm  not real sure you have a problem,  is there a visible part  of the placenta,  is she straining , is there a lingering smell,  Don't be so anxious to stick something in  when all you do is take more chance of infection in than getting the problem out.

I would weigh on the side of precautionary and put the uterine boluses in. If you don't get them in within a short time here, you won't be able to get into her uterus, then an infusion would be best. It won't hurt anything if she has cleaned and if you have ever seen a uterus dissected from a cow that didn't clean after a period of time after calving, it's a no brainer to help her out some if you can. She'll have a much better chance of rebreeding in a more timely time period with some help from you if possible.

Going into the uterus at this stage is an old school treatment, and I don't know know any vet who recommends that as the first route of therapy or intervention for not cleaning off after calving. The lutalyse shot should work to cause enough uterine contractions to expel any tissue that should be expelled, and you stand no chance of introducing more contamination into the uterine environment.

I have used the boluses (years ago) and they do work. They're just not the best option we have today for treatment at this stage. And if you're not absulutely sure what to do or how to do it, a lutalyse shot is not apt to cause more harm than good! If I would give the shot if she wasn't cleaned off within 24 hours, and if that doesn't finish the job within 2-3 days, you need somebody who knows what he or she is doing to get the job done. She'll need to be cleaned out and infused with antibiotic (ie penicillin).

Do NOT pull the placenta.
Lut will not work 3 days post calving.

Unless the cow is showing signs of illness (not eating, droopy ears) then leave her alone and it will take care of itself.
If in doubt, call your vet and if they are current on treatment and recommended protocols, they will advise you to leave her alone unless she shows signs of illness.

Good luck.

I am not sure why I am commenting other than the curiosity is killing me, but why do we think this cow has a retained placenta?  Is the placenta protruding from the cow, or???  We had a heifer that calved 80+ days early last year and she had retained placenta for the better part of two weeks.  Two shots of Lut and a good shot of antibiotics and we were good to go.