Heifer: Possible nerve issues, inflammation, frozen ligaments (?)

[Erin DouglassStudent]

A friend of mine is need of some veterinarian advice concerning her heifer. This is a real puzzle and any advice is welcome (read: recommended herbal remedies & therapies). I was sent the following:

Back in March I saw that the heifer wasn’t feeling well. Hunched over, head drooping, ears droopy. Called my vet and she said to get her in and give her some antibiotics. Her temperature was 108. Gave her penicillin and put transdermal phenylbutazone on her. We thought she might have pneumonia because of the warm days and cold nights. Got there the next morning and she couldn’t get up. The vet came out and checked her vitals, gave her LA 300, dexamethasone, and 2 other shots. She thought that maybe some other cow tried to maybe ride her and pushed her down and she has a pinched nerve. She wasn’t calving, and she wasn’t in heat. There were no marks to indicate she was attacked by anything; cougar, bear, coyote, wolf. She is approximately 800 lbs. Since we have no idea of what happened to her, we are a little lost. She said she did not hear any broken bones with the stethoscope. We ordered a sling to pick her up. We have been picking her up for over 2 months. We were rotating, placing her on her left, then her right side. But one day we placed her on her right side and she seemed to be in severe pain. Thrashing around, frothing at the mouth, bellering. So we quickly rolled her over by hand onto her left side, and she quit. I have given 2 more shots of dex and some more LA 300. She has ‘bed sores” on her left side because we cannot place her on her right side. And now, her front legs are not good. She eventually got to where she can move her back legs, but because she is on her left side, and been down for so long, her left front leg is straight, cannot bend, and her right front leg from being bent under her, is now unable to straighten. She does have a “lump or knot” on her right side by her hip bone. (From her hip bone back towards her tail at a diagonal line to her spine [maybe the ilium?] that does decrease in size with the dex for a couple of days, but returns). I think if I can get her front legs to work, she could get up on her own. But with the way her front legs are, she will never be able to get up. She is still eating (great appetite), drinking water, and pooping and peeing. I just started mixing oregano with coconut oil and rubbing on her sores. Put some arnica oil on lump by her hip bone. Been icing down her right front, then put some bigeloil on it. Will put arnica on it today.

 

Thank you! Erin

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