"Are you ladies in the calendar?"

Wednesday, July 15th

There are pictures of organs from a necropsy in this post so if you get sqeamish, avert your eyes. BUT, if you can make it to the end you'll be rewarded with pictures of adorable newborn calves.

It was rainy today.  Rain really adds to the experience.  It's super.

First call of the day was vaccinations for 220 cows.  Each cow received a vaccine for leptospirosis. This whole process only took about an hour and a half (because the farmer was wonderfully helpful).  The vaccination we gave them is designed to protect against three serovars of leptospirosis; Hardjo, Pomona, and Copenhageni.  The first two serovars are intended to protect humans from contracting infection from shedding cows.  

The second call of the day was for a post-mortem in the field.  A cow on a farm had suddenly collapsed and died after a one day history of labored breathing and rapid heart rate.  When we opened up the cow, her lungs were heavy, large, and wet.  They continued to ooze a serosanguinous fluid throughout the necropsy.  There was a very large amount of froth throughout the trachea, extending down into the bronchi.  The intterlobular septa were grossly enlarged and filled with serosanguinous fluid.

Here are a couple of gross pictures:

(The bright green grass really adds to the photo, I think)

No abnormalities were found with the heart. The spleen was small and pale, but we assumed that after 24 hours of labored breathing, a likely explanation was splenic contraction due to stress.  The vet took some heart and lung samples for histopath. We couldn't give a diagnosis on the spot but it looked as though the cow has died from respiratory distress caused by acute onset of severe pneumonia.  The cause of the pneumonia was unknown.  The cow was not running a fever and there were no other sick cows in the herd with her symptoms.  

On our drive back to the office, we discussed differentials for sudden death in a cow with severe pulmonary edema.  This cow was a couple years old and her heart seemed, grossly, normal, so we ruled-out congenital heart defects.  There are many infectious causes of pneumonia in cows (BRSV, BVDV, PI3, Manheimia...none of which tend to cause sudden death in older cows) but the fact that she had no fever made those less likely.  The veterinarian's top differential: Fog Fever.

Fog Fever, aka: Acute Bovine Pulmonary Emphysema and Edema (ABPEE), is a non-infectious condition that usually presents acutely with symptoms such as open mouth breathing (check), sudden death (check), and interstitial pneumonia (check).  It is usually caused by moving cows onto lush, green pasture.  L-tryptophan (the same stuff that makes you sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner), from the pasture, is converted into 3-methylindole in the rumen. This 3-MI is metabolized in the lung and its biproducts are toxic to the pulmonary vasculature and airways, causing pneumonia.  You can sometimes treat this with steroids and furosemide, if you catch it soon enough.  You may also benefit from moving cows off of the pasture, but use caution, understanding that moving a cow in respiratory distress can easily worsen its condition.  You can also feed cows Monensin a few day prior to moving them on to greener pasture, in preparation.  (There is also a form of fog fever that can be caused by consumption of perella mint or moldy sweet potatoes).  We'll have to wait on histopath results to find out if this is what our cow had.

The last call of the day was the most exciting one, so far.  A cow had been down for nearly one week and had only been eating sparingly - nibbling at forage and pellets when offered.  She went into labor but the farmer hadn't been able to pull a calf out, and called us in.  When a cow is down (won't stand), has been down for a while, and then has a dystocia (complicated birth), that kind of makes you start to lower your expectations for the outcome.  

When we arrived, the cow was down and in labor.  When we took a look, we could feel the calf's two front legs but its head was turned a caught behind the cow's pelvis.  The vet repositioned the calf and set up to pull it.  That sentence doesn't really describe the situation well enough, so let me try again... The vet, lied down on the muddy ground, in the rain, covered in poo and goo.  Using all of her strength, she wrestled the calf backards, into the cow and carfeully turned it to the appropriate position.  She then attached the calving chains and we used a jack to pull the calf out.  The calf was alive!  Everyone was a little surprised.  The farmer was thrilled.

One more quick feel around in the cow and we found that there was another calf on its way.  Murphy and I palpated and found that this calf was coming out backwards.  The vet pulled calf number two out as quick as the first one, no problem.  Two live calves!  Mama cow did a good job of instantly starting to clean up her calves.  A bull calf and a heifer calf, Freemartins unfortunately.  The farmer didn't seem to mind; she was just so excited to have two live calves. 

Mom started eating grass and molasses right after her calves were out.  We're hoping that's a good sign, but she's lost so much weight over the past week, she still had a long ways to go.  She also needs to get back on her feet asap.  The calves will likely be sent to the works.  That's a nice phrase they use here instead of saying, sent to slaughter.  Don't worry, slaughter is not a sad or scary word. It's just the way things are.  These calves aren't of any use to a dairy farmer so they have to be sold off  to slaughter.  People who aren't farmers or vets, and don't understand how these things work, will always try to argue, saying it's terrible or sad or wrong... but it's not.  

The benefit of being a vet here, is that we got to do what was best for mom and her calves.  This situation was a success for the veterinarian.  The cow gave birth, got some much needed pain meds, and will hopefully live to calve again.  Her live and healthy calves get to spend some time lying in the grass with mum and learning to walk today.  Most importantly, the farmer was very pleased with the outcome.  We could tell, like most farmers, she really loved her cows.

Other notable things that happened today...  One lovely farmer brighened our day with some sexist comments.  First, he grumbled, "Only ladies?" when Murphy and I climbed out of the van with another female veterinarian.  Yes, sir.  Only ladies today.  We managed to do our job well despite our inadequate, tiny, lady brains.  Then, he also asked Murphy and me if we were going to be in the calendar...refering to the semi-nude calendar that the vet students at Massey University sell to fundraise for their halfway-through-vet-school celebration.  No, sir, you can't find me or my friend in a nude calendar.  You just have to laugh some things off.

MOO!  Cow Love!