Cow acting weird

[DLB]

Ok-I have a 4year old cow that was AIed back in February....palpated mid-May.  Vet said she was in the process of aborting the embryo....or had just aborted it.  Well, I have seen her come into heat pretty regularly since.  Well tonight-she's acting very strange-I would almost think she's in some sort of labor.  She's seperate from the rest of the herd, has slight clear mucus, laying down and rolling on side like contractions, then she'll fling her head down towards teats like she's in some discomfort.  Also, she is a very tame cow and even charged towards me when I went out ot check her out up closer.  Any ideas?

 

[DL]

Call your vet - a sudden change in behavior like that should always raise the rabies red flag

 

[Show Heifer]

I fyou haven't already CALL YOUR VET. Like DL said, rabies is a possibility and so it Anaplasmosis (change from tame to agressive).
Could also mean she has a twisted gut, or uterus. 

Regardless, a visit from or to a vet is definately in order.

 

[DLB]

Would rabies cause her to have mucus coming from the vulva area?  She's not foaming at the mouth or anything else.  She seems uneasy and restless and has mucus from her vulva (like a heat cycle or labor of some sort).  But I am getting her to the vet....thanks for the help folks!!

 

[DL]

Would rabies cause her to have mucus coming from the vulva area?  She's not foaming at the mouth or anything else.  She seems uneasy and restless and has mucus from her vulva (like a heat cycle or labor of some sort).  But I am getting her to the vet....thanks for the help folks!!

Rabies is the great imitator - it can look like anything but the one thing in cattle and horses is that it usually involves a change in behavior - foaming at the mouth is the "Old Yeller" dog characterization of rabies - every year lots and lots of veterinarians and owners of horses and cattle end up getting rabies shots because they didn't think of it and stuck an ungloved hand in the mouth - do I think she has rabies - probably not, but with the behavior change and the acting weird it is sure on the differential - good luck, be careful and tell us what the vet finds

 

[dori36]

Would rabies cause her to have mucus coming from the vulva area?  She's not foaming at the mouth or anything else.  She seems uneasy and restless and has mucus from her vulva (like a heat cycle or labor of some sort).  But I am getting her to the vet....thanks for the help folks!!

Rabies is the great imitator - it can look like anything but the one thing in cattle and horses is that it usually involves a change in behavior - foaming at the mouth is the "Old Yeller" dog characterization of rabies - every year lots and lots of veterinarians and owners of horses and cattle end up getting rabies shots because they didn't think of it and stuck an ungloved hand in the mouth - do I think she has rabies - probably not, but with the behavior change and the acting weird it is sure on the differential - good luck, be careful and tell us what the vet finds

I haven't been on for a while but this thread made me respond:  When I worked on the ranch in WY, there was a cow that needed to be brought in as she was getting ready to calve.  She had always been relatively gentle considering she was part of a herd of 1000 cows.  She hid behind some buckbrush and when the daughter of the owner went to shoo her out to drive her up to the corrals, the cow charged and blew snot in the daughter's face. No one, even the daughter herself, was sure if the snot ended up in her mouth or eyes. As you pointed out, DL, this behavior was definitely "different" for this cow.  They disposed of the cow, took the head for analysis, and immediately started the first series of rabies shots on the girl. We were up late into the night as the local hospital didn't have any globulin and it had to be brought by courier from Cheyenne. It turned out that the cows tested negative for rabies but it's nothing to fool around with.  I'll add my voice to those encouraging you to be careful with the cow and get your Vet out immediately.  I, too, would like to know the outcome.

 

[lightnin4]

Definately be careful!  Rabies is always a possibility.  Anaplasmosis is too.  Anaplasmosis cows tend to turn violent shortly before they die though.  A local man was nearly killed by an anaplasmosis bull about a year and a half ago.  The bull charged him while he was on a 4-wheeler in the pasture.  The bull turned the 4-wheeler over and drove the man into the ground.  He wasn't even close to the bull when it attacked him either.

 

[DLB]

Sorry for taking long to get back with an update.  Turns out the cow mentioned ended up wit h a twisted gut.  Vets did test,blood work, and more test.  Gave me the option of surgery or???  So I dropped the girl off at the sale barn on the way home. 

 

[Show Heifer]

Sorry about your bad news. But, I must admit, I didn't know a cow could live that many days with a twisted gut. Who knew?