Pregnant cow with cancer.. need advice!

becca renee

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A week ago we noticed one of our dairy cows who was about to be dried up had an irritated eye. We dried her up and decided to leave her in with the milking herd to monitor and treat it. It quickly progressed and in a few days we called the vet out. She diagnosed her as having a tumor and being that she is pregnant, advised us to give her aspirin and flush her eye with penicillin twice daily. Today would be eight days since we first saw it and a few days since we started the aspirin/penicillin and since then it has gotten to the point where her eye is protruding well beyond the socket and is dry and dead looking and looks like it could even fall out. She is due in thirty days but she is definitely not looking like she will make it that long before we have to put her down. I've only been involved with dairy farming for four years and I have very little experience with premature calves. Does anyone have any insight on the best way to approach this situation in order to save the calf and prevent any undo suffering of the mother? At thirty days premature, would the calf have much chance of survival? And if we were able to make it a few more days, how much difference would it make?
 

luvmypets

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Could you maybe have the eye removed? Get out the most they can and have her carry it to full term? Im sorry you have to go through this let me tag a few people @WildRoseBeef @farmerjan
 

becca renee

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Could you maybe have the eye removed? Get out the most they can and have her carry it to full term? Im sorry you have to go through this let me tag a few people @WildRoseBeef @farmerjan

Thanks! I'm not sure that removing the eye this late in gestation is a very viable option, unfortunately. I was told that the drugs used to sedate the cow could dangerously affect the mother and/or calf.
 

luvmypets

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Thanks! I'm not sure that removing the eye this late in gestation is a very viable option, unfortunately. I was told that the drugs used to sedate the cow could dangerously affect the mother and/or calf.
Do you think she can hold out? I really hope you can get a calf from her :fl
 

TAH

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Could you remove the eye atfer she calves?
 

becca renee

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Do you think she can hold out? I really hope you can get a calf from her :fl

No, I really don't :( I'm mostly just hoping that the calf will be far enough along that we'll be able to save it. But thank you!
 

Latestarter

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Greetings and welcome to BYH. What a terrible set of circumstances to bring you here. The "right folks" have already been tagged, and I hope they'll show up soon. I have no experience with this personally but from what I understand, a one month premature calf would have about zero chance of survival. Sounds to me like you've already decided the cow is terminal. That being the case, I'd let her carry the calf just as long as she's able to stay alive. Worst case you can do a C section to remove the calf when the mom goes down and hope to save something from the whole situation. Sorry again, but hope you'll let us know how it all ends up.
 
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