have you ever done this?

[braunvieh]

Ok, so who has ever lanced an abscess and cut a little too deep or long?? I just did that. I thought to myself.....I think I just killed my cow!! She has a case of lumpy jaw. Vet was out about 3 weeks ago and gave her NaI in the vein and at that time the lump was very hard and in the lower jaw and side of the face. It seems to improve and got much better in about 10 days. Then after a week of looking good, it started growing again very fast and got very huge. So, I got her in today and felt it, it was mostly soft so decided I would lance it. Stuck the scalpel in at the bottom, she jerked a little and yada yada yada, about a 2 inch slice with gushing blood and puss pouring out. After all that drained out I am thinking, wow, that is a steady stream of blood coming out....maybe I cut too long or too deep? I could not believe how much stuff came out of there and how liquid it was. I hope she doesn't have a bigger problem from me trying to help her after all this.  Just wondering if anyone ever had that thought that they might have done more harm than good???

 

[Cowboy]

Just like old Forst Gump -- "" It happens "

Having given here Sodium Iodide a couple weeks ago really helped her, and the result of it starting to swell again was probably due to the infection in there was there just a tad bit too long, so it resurfaced as in your case.

UNless you did hit a major artery, I think it most liely looks worse that it really is -- mostly due to all the trauma already there.

It is a shame that we just can't seem to see these lumps until it is almost too late some times. That IV drug does an amazing job if it get there early enough.

You won't know her in a couple weeks -- may have a scar now for a long time, but she will start to eat better and be better off for it!

Good job --

Terry

 

[farmboy]

yea she will probably be fine. sometimes a human can gush blood and only have a busted lip. Cows have a heck of a lot more blood in them than humans too.

 

[chambero]

You cant hardly cut them too deep or long as long as you dont mind a scar.  Lets them drain better and longer.

 

[aj]

Animal people have great stories. Has anyone done this. Had a 3 year bull that just got tuff,won't stay in, won't drive on and on. Had all the bulls on volunteer wheat,snow came in,all the bulls jumped into trailer but knot head. Well today he mosied over to neighbors yard. He's rumbing on swingsets,semi tractor trailers, a fan running on a grain bin, edge of of the combine head,still rubbing (snorting). Got him out in field an buried pickup. He still wouldn't drive. He never took me but he would of if I approached him agressively. So I walked 3 miles home and got thje little s-10. Took a bucket of grain back over and poured some on ground. Bull ate it still wouldn't drive. Neighbor was gone out of town. By this time I'm getting kinda ticked and have a stout mix in pkup. I kinda start leaning on bull with s-10 pickup and eventually ram him. Now he's moving a little faster. He only has to go 1 half mile to pasture where I want him. Oh yeah the neighbor has a great big great dane dog barking at the bull also. They scuff it out every time bull goes around the house corner. By now I am chasing bull though the back yard of neighbors(shooting under swing set) and get bull out in open....he finally heads for desired pasture. Only thing is county sheriff who was supposed to check on neighbor's house periodically has witnessed me driving across neighbors frozen back yard with tire tracks all over place at 40 miles an hour. I know the officer and he is just about to die laughing. We both call the neighbor(I have his mobile number) and we tell him what has happened. He assures the officer its ok. Anyway...no one got killed, I bout got arrested over the dang bull. He's and extra bull and he's going to the salebarn as soon as I can get him there.

 

[frostback]

Ok, so who has ever lanced an abscess and cut a little too deep or long?? I just did that. I thought to myself.....I think I just killed my cow!! She has a case of lumpy jaw. Vet was out about 3 weeks ago and gave her NaI in the vein and at that time the lump was very hard and in the lower jaw and side of the face. It seems to improve and got much better in about 10 days. Then after a week of looking good, it started growing again very fast and got very huge. So, I got her in today and felt it, it was mostly soft so decided I would lance it. Stuck the scalpel in at the bottom, she jerked a little and yada yada yada, about a 2 inch slice with gushing blood and puss pouring out. After all that drained out I am thinking, wow, that is a steady stream of blood coming out....maybe I cut too long or too deep? I could not believe how much stuff came out of there and how liquid it was. I hope she doesn't have a bigger problem from me trying to help her after all this.  Just wondering if anyone ever had that thought that they might have done more harm than good???

I have I have, well actually it was the vet. He was doing something else to the cow and said well while she is in the chute do you want me to cut that lump open so it will drain. Sure I said, well he put the scalpel up there and of coarse she jumped and gouge. He felt horrible, he tried to sew it up but she would not hold still so I asked if she would die from it, he laughed and said no, so I said get out of the way and turned her out. I kept her by the house so I could watch her for a few days and give her some penicillin but she was fine.

 

[GoWyo]

AJ - Sounds like a job for a dart gun and rompum.  Then he can wake up in the right pasture or the sale barn. (clapping)

 

[jbw]

AJ-  I had the sheriff involved in one of these deals, I had to go get my border collie and have him WHIP EM. There was two bulls and they would not drive. After Bear got done with em they drove just fine. Boy, I wish I had that dog back!

My cousin had a cow with a big abcess on her shoulder, my grandpa lanced it for him, cow was dead the next day!  It was all blood.

 

[Bulldaddy]

Alway check for pus first by inserting a needle.  If you don't get puss coming out, don't lance.  The longer incision is the way to go since it allows for better drainage.  Best to make the incision vertically. I bet your cow will be just fine.

 

[braunvieh]

AJ,
Your story was great to read and think about after the fact, but I can just imagine myself doing the same thing. There is something about cattle that won't go where they are supposed to that only makes us want to push them and prove we are going to win!!!

Unfortunately my dad found that out the hard way this summer with an old Charolais bull that got out with the neighbors cow in heat on a hot summer day. After fighting him with the dog and truck and running him, he hurt his leg and got tangled in a barb wire fence so badly he was stuck. So, my 70 year old dad (alone) goes up to this mad, hot, injured bull and whacks him on the nose with a stick to make him back up! Well, reverse is not what he did. He rammed forward, hit my dad and would have killed him if his dog hadn't distracted him. Never got the bull until we tranquilized him the next day and my dad was crippled for 3 months. Hindsight.....

On the cow, she is doing fine. I think you are right, they are very tough animals and things can look a lot worse than they are.

 

[jlingle]

AJ I think we've all got those stories with "stubborn" cattle.  My dad has 2 cows that absolutely refuse to cross a paved road.  Unfortunately there's a paved road that separates our 2 main pastures.  2 years ago while trying to push the cows across the road, I was on the 4 wheeler & dad in the truck.  We chased the same 2 cows around for 15 minutes, which is about 13 minutes longer than both of us knew we should have.  I eventually hit an old wheel hidden in the pasture grass on the four wheeler, went airborn and landed like a lawndart on my left shoulder.  Meanwhile, dad chases the cows into the next county in the pickup & I've got a 4 wheeler laying across my chest.  When he finally came back & found me, he thought he'd hit me with the truck.  8 months of surgery, pain pills, and rehab later I was nearly back to normal again.  Now when the ONE cow doesn't go (we sold the other one), we just catch her & load her.  It's funny how much more intelligent a man gets after one really good mishap. :  I'm considerably more patient now, than before the accident. 

 

[simtal]

I know one thing, never try and lance a hematoma until they have walled off and are hard as a basketball. If you lance them soft, they'll bleed out in the chute...

 

[aj]

jlingle....exactly....we had 6 inches of snow on ground. Bull was hwaded for the Kurht ranch about 7 miles away. Thats when I made decesion to plow pkup into field to stop him and eventually stuck(its the only pickup set up for fifth wheel). How about opening a an electric fence gate (that has been there for years) and you can't get cattle to walk through it. I heard a story about a vehicle that was brouht into the local vo-tec in which a cow had gone clear through an old pkup. Both doors were kinked open, steering column broke etc. They decided to total it out. I also heard a story of cow going into pkup pinning dale...he reached on floor and come up with a pistol and shot her dead. If you get a bull or cow on the fight its best to walk away. I got knocked down by a black simmi 20 years ago(600 u son) of dads. I made myself big in the alley gate. He knocked me down and was getting ready to rub me in ground...then he walked away before he did the coup de grace. My adrenaline was so high i thought my heart would explode as I scrambled over fence.

 

[Cattledog]

AJ, thanks for the good read!  It's good to know that this kind of stuff does happen to other people and not just me!