reno1014 said:
Reno - Septic means that there are bacteria in the blood stream and that the animal (or human) is sick from that. It is also called septicemia. Bacteremia is when there are bacteria in the blood stream and the animal is not sick. When you have a calf with naval ill who gets an infected joint it is because the bacteria went from the naval thru the blood stream to the joint. Same general idea.
Septic usually refers to an infection that has spread for the site of origin (in this case either the uterus or incision site) through the blood stream - the bacteria can therefore end up almost anywhere and set up house keeping. This is as you already know a serious situation - cows are pretty good at fighting off infection - even bad infections - provided they get the appropriate help - in this case antibiotics, pain meds, fluids IV (probably), hand feeding, and hydrotherapy. I would specifically ask him what her prognosis for survival is and if she is suffering - if her prognosis is pretty good and she is not suffering you need to determine how much time you will give her to make big progress - if her prognosis is poor or he thinks she is suffering you need to think about how long you want to continue -
I am really sorry - this is a sad situation - keep the faith and good luck
