Surgery on the farm - displaced abomasum

Sometimes in a cow, the abomasum can fill with gas and rise to the top of the abdomen.  This is called a displaced abomasum, or a DA.  This sometimes happens after calving, or it sometimes happens when a cow doesn't eat enough due to another issue, like a sickness.  

The cow then loses her appetite, stops giving as much milk, and has digestive issues in general.  

Today we treated a cow's DA by surgery.  The vet makes an incision, locates the abomasum, returns it to the correct area, tacks it to the body wall, and closes her back up.  

It's rare that we have a DA surgery - this is the fourth one we can remember having in our nine years here.  I was super excited to go see it, and Cole was too!

Becky Bean, a vet at Clinton Veterinary Services, came to do it.  She said she's done hundreds of DA surgeries.  Just the kind of person you want!  

After brushing the area, she clipped the cow's hair.

She cleaned it thoroughly and repeatedly.  Even though you're in a barn, you need a clean and sterile area.

She tied up her tail so she wouldn't switch it into the incision.

After numbing the area, she prepared her instruments, put on her gown and gloves, and prepped her materials for stitching.

She put a drape on the cow to isolate the area, and made the incision.  She carefully cut through the layers.

She found what she was looking for ...

Then with a hollow needle attached to a hose, she had to find the correct place from which to release gas.  She let me smell the gas coming out of the end of the hose.

Cole too.

Here's the abomasum!  Displaced no more!

It was really interesting watching her tack it to the body wall.  She said that your hands just have to remember what to do, and what tension you need, and how to make the stitches.  It reminded me of watching my mom try to teach me how to crochet.

She said it went really well.

Becky stitched her beautifully - it reminded me of a football.

Abomasum back in place.  Thanks, Becky!

We wish our dear cow a speedy recovery.  We'll be watching her extra carefully and hoping she's back to feeling her best soon.

No one wants a DA ... but we'll really do anything to try and take care of our cows.  We're thankful for great vets, employees, and the technology that allows us to care for our herd.

We're also thankful that there's another generation coming up that finds this all as interesting as we do.

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Preg check - ultrasounds today!

Big excitement today - preg check!  

Our vet comes and gives an internal ultrasound to every cow to determine 1) if she's pregnant 2) exactly how pregnant she is 3) if she has any problems.

Nick was our vet today.  I first met Nick when he was new to the practice, dealing with a uterine torsion.  (Go to that link for some great pictures.)  Now he's married, has a baby girl, and is well-seasoned!  

Like most good doctors, Nick likes answering questions about what he's doing.  (I once had a doctor who told me I asked too many questions.  I never saw him again, of course!)

So there was a lot to learn today!

Nick reaches into the cow with the probe in his hand.  It's connected to goggles that he can look into, and on the screen of his goggles is the ultrasound.  

He let me look through them - it looks a whole lot like a baby ultrasound.  I could see the beautiful spine and the little heartbeat fluttering away. 

But 'reaching into the cow' isn't an easy job.  He has to push into them up to his shoulder.  He answered that yes, lots of vets eventually tear their rotator cuffs or hurt their elbows.  He has personally overextended his elbow before.  

Sometimes the uterus isn't where he can feel it, so he coaxes it up with his hand in order to get a better feel for the calf.

Sometimes he uses his hand and not the probe to feel the calf and estimate the size.

But this isn't a one man job, of course.  Josh was in there, helping position, treat, and tag the cows.

Here's a view from the pit.

And this is a really physical job.  Right here, the cow has moved into Nick so that he's pinned and can't move.  He wasn't in pain or hurt or anything ... just clearly not going to be able to move until she leaves the parlor.  There's another vet in the clinic who's far along in her pregnancy, and this is why she isn't doing preg checks right now!

All of our cows have ear tags so that we can keep track of them.  Over time, they sometimes fall off. We give them a new one at preg check, if necessary.  

 

We bought some cows from a friend named Susan, and her name still goes on their tags!  (They're doing great, Susan!)

Some have names, some have numbers, and all of them wear earrings.  

We separate the cows into three groups.  We did one preg check Tuesday, one today, and we'll do one in two weeks.  We don't have enough time in between milkings to do all of them, and a vet wouldn't want to do hundreds at one time, anyway.  (See rotator cuffs.)

Josh and Adam were helping put them in the parlor, one by one.  

They'd put one in one side of the parlor, and yell the number.  Nick would check her while they put one in the other side, yell her days pregnant, go again, and so on until they were all done.  Of course, this wasn't like an assembly line ... there was lots of talking and laughing the whole way through! 

Still going ...

Nick came upon a cow that he thought had a DA, which means displaced abomasum, which is the technical term for a twisted stomach.  He listened to her with a stethoscope and ruled that out, so he wanted to check her for ketosis.  We have strips that the cows can urinate on to see if they test positive for ketosis.  

So, Nick sort of rubbed on the back of her until she peed, and Josh held the stick in her stream of urine.  It was negative, and she was fine.  Hooray!  (I've never seen a vet stimulate a cow to urinate either.  Nick said it almost always works.)

Kris was in the front, writing down all the numbers and names and taking a record of the pregnancy dates, cows that were open (not pregnant), and ones with any problems - like an ovarian cyst or an infection. 

Max mostly swung around on pipes and chatted. 

It was all a success!  The calves are growing, the cows are doing well, and we're on our way to another year of milk.  Which makes farmers ... and milk lovers ... very happy.

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Not for the queasy

Russ had to lance an abscess today! 

One doesn't often get to use that phrase.  But Kris told me yesterday our vet, Russ, was coming over because of a calf's umbilical abscess. 

We wanted to make sure it wasn't an umbilical hernia.  No one would want to lance that on accident, because that would really injure the calf.  Sometimes a calf has a half hernia, half abscess.  Anyway, I got to go along because my mom generously offered to stay with my napping kids.  My niece Caroline - a city girl - went with me.  

Russ got out a shot to put the calf under. Caroline said, "You look like a doctor."

Kris got out a halter for the calf.

"How did you notice the abscess ..." I started to say, until I saw the calf. That's right. You see it too. Not a normal bellybutton at all.

Russ gave her the shot, put the halter on her, and tied her to the gate.

Yes, flip flops are what I wear to every minor calf operation.

He let Caroline feel it and told her what he was going to do.

He explained that abscesses commonly occur in bellybuttons because they're a vulnerable entry point for bacteria.  The bacteria causes an inflammatory response, which triggers the immune system to form a cavity to contain the infection and prevent it from spreading.  The interior liquefies and pus forms.  The area expands, creating tension and inflammation. 

He got a scalpel.  If you're easily grossed out by bodily fluids, scroll down past these two pictures. 

We all got out of the way as he lanced it. 

Caroline was duly impressed.  You can tell by her expression.  Oh, you don't think that's what her face is saying?

Russ showed us the calf's response to the infection - its body had built up a thick interior wall.

Russ said, "The solution to pollution is dilution," as he used a syringe full of soapy water to wash out the cavity. 

He used fly spray that's safe for wounds.  He said you can't close the wound up, because it would just become infected again.  He told Kris to continue spraying fly spray on it for the next few days. 

Success! Just another day at work.

Waking up, feeling woozy, but much less self-conscious about her navel.