# So sickening....dead from bloat...



## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

Had a yearling heifer. Probably the prettiest heifer I have ever raised and just beautiful and big all over. BF went down to feed while I was on my way home with my kids and he called and said Dorothy was down and wasn't sure what the problem was but she wasn't even trying to get up. I said that she might have hit a nerve or something cause a lot of the heifers had been riding each other and some of the big cows too. 
So, I get home within 50 minutes and head down to look at her and she is a pitiful mess. She is laying down, eyes look either puffy or sunk in, with her hair it was hard to tell. And she was really not a friendly animal and she let me check her out all over. Therefore I knew she was on her last one. Her side was all bloated up and she was in pain. And so I said bloat. My BF calls me a voodoo witch doctor because I am always trying to (and usually succeeding at) fix whatever is wrong with an animal. 
So, I call both vets he said to call, left messages with both with not even a call back (love spending my money in their offices for service although I do understand it is a holiday weekend). 
Call my other voodoo friend and leave a message with all the symptoms:
Tight sides
Frothy foam coming from the mouth
Straining to poo or something and no action in the back end
Head looking back at her sides

She calls back and said I was probably right to think bloat and tells me to get something in her to make her belch and worse case the needle trick. BF said he'd heard people say warm beer for bloat but don't ya know, all his were cold. But friend said that beer wouldn't do anything to pep her up that I should try a soda or something and then baking soda since I didn't have that bloat remedy from the store. So I prepared a bottle of water with baking soda, had another to wash it all down with and a pepsi in hand. BF wanted to try to tell me I was stupid for thinking a pepsi would work cause it wasn't natural. LOL! Turns out I had pepsi throwback which is made with natural sugar but oh well.

None of the effort, none of the bickering over which was better (I told him didn't matter to me whether it was beer or pop but something needed done so either get a beer warmed up or quit picking on me for doing the only things I know to do...he said just go) mattered because when we got down there about 10 to 15 minutes later she was dead. A year of watching in awe at her beauty, a year of wondering how her calves would be all wasted. UGH! 

This is probably the second head we've lost to bloat this year. Two had pelvic issues with calving but UGH! This one was the only one we were able to save meat though. We knew the cause and the meat was beautiful but still...ugh. I told her thank you for allowing us to benefit from her in some way but BF said he would have rather she contributed with a calf but yeah, at least we were able to save meat from her. 

Days like this makes me wonder why we even bother. UGH!


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## jane2256 (Feb 7, 2006)

Wow, nothing I can say.
So sorry for your loss.
(((((((hugs)))))))


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## Jcran (Jan 4, 2006)

So sorry...we lost a springing heifer this past summer...it hurts.


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## myersfarm (Dec 24, 2004)

I know you know what you saw...but if in 1 hour she was died..I would think you are right....but if she had been down all day..she could have also had Pneumonia......I always check there temp...that tells more to me then anything else.....NOT SAYING TREATING FOR PNEUMONIA WOULD HAVE SAVED HER..and if you had do not know I would eat the beef....fast acting pneumonia can kill in a day....bloat this time of year is real hard unless you turn out in a tall green grass after no green grass for months


so sorry for your lost....glad you could use the beef....

sometimes I think all of us wonder that is it worth it ...I have found things that makes me think they try to commit suicide........


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## willow_girl (Dec 7, 2002)

So sorry for your loss.

In the past, I have treated mild bloat successfully with a drench of vegetable oil with a splash of liquid dish soap. Put it in a wine (or other long-necked) bottle.


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## KnowOneSpecial (Sep 12, 2010)

I'm sorry. I lost a pretty little Angus heifer last January to bloat. 

My vet even tubed her and put a gallon of glycerol and a gallon of warm water mixed with 2 boxes of baking soda down her. Still didn't work. Since he also shot her up with antibiotics and since she was in stress for 2-3 days we didn't eat the meat.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

I've saved many bloats with nothing more than a six foot length of garden hose. Run it down their throat until you hit the "sweet spot". Just like letting the air out of a balloon. If they have a gut full of wet grain it sometimes doesn't work because the grain plugs the hose up. In these cases I've used a large gauge needle. If you do this leave the barrel of a syringe on the needle so you can hear the gas hissing out. When the needle plugs up (and it often will) use the plunger to clear the blockage. I like the needle better than a trocar, which creates a larger wound and often leads to peritonitis.

In dire cases I've used a jack knife.

Forget the home remedies just get that gas out ASAP in the future.


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## ksfarmer (Apr 28, 2007)

tinknal said:


> I've saved many bloats with nothing more than a six foot length of garden hose. Run it down their throat until you hit the "sweet spot". Just like letting the air out of a balloon. If they have a gut full of wet grain it sometimes doesn't work because the grain plugs the hose up. In these cases I've used a large gauge needle. If you do this leave the barrel of a syringe on the needle so you can hear the gas hissing out. When the needle plugs up (and it often will) use the plunger to clear the blockage. I like the needle better than a trocar, which creates a larger wound and often leads to peritonitis.
> 
> In dire cases I've used a jack knife.
> 
> *Forget the home remedies just get that gas out ASAP in the future*.


Good advice. tinknal knows what he is talking about. The garden hose will work a lot of times, trocar or knife should be last resort, but in emergency it will work quickly.


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## genebo (Sep 12, 2004)

Keep on hand a few bottles of Therabloat. Search for a good price on the web and stock up a few bottles. It is the treatment your vet would try first. It's like GAS-X for people. The condition is called frothy bloat because it makes foam in the gut which can't escape. Therabloat pops the bubbles, making one big bubble that can escape.

To prevent bloat, put a Sweetlix Bloat Block out for the cattle. It has a medication in it that prevents bloat. This trace mineral block costs about $20 instead of around $7 for a regular trace mineral block, but if it only saves one head ....

Tubing is the next treatment to try, followed by putting a hole in the rumen from the left side to allow gas to escape. That last sounds pretty crude and risky, but I'll bet that you would be glad to have the chance to try it on your cow. It's the last resort.

Study the last two teatments and have the equipment on hand. If either is called for, you won't have time to read.

I'm really sorry for your loss.


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

So sorry for your loss. It always seems to be your best one, or favorite, doesn't it?

Hope you can figure out what caused the bloat and how to prevent it happening to any others.


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

If you do use a knife or a trocar put them on antibiotics immediately.

It's a lot easier to prevent an infection than to treat one.


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## mozarkian (Dec 11, 2009)

Allenslabs -- Sorry about your heifer, have to ask if you know what could have made her bloat. Are there any hedge apples in your field? I had a Holstien cow years ago that would walk right through a barb wire fence to eat them and then bloat up like a balloon. She was the only cow in the group that bloated when exposed to them, so maybe not all cows will, don't know. We always tried to keep them picked up so she wouldn't get them, but she outsmarted us 3 times in 2 years--veg oil and a hose always did the trick.


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## oneokie (Aug 14, 2009)

To the OP, when you say your heifer was laying down, was she on her side, or laying down with her feet and legs underneath her?

Many times bloat can be relieved by getting the cows feet and legs underneath them in a natural position. Put a halter or rope on their head and use that to pull them into a more normal resting position. Doing so will allow the gasses to pass naturally.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

tinknal said:


> I've saved many bloats with nothing more than a six foot length of garden hose. Run it down their throat until you hit the "sweet spot". Just like letting the air out of a balloon. If they have a gut full of wet grain it sometimes doesn't work because the grain plugs the hose up. In these cases I've used a large gauge needle. If you do this leave the barrel of a syringe on the needle so you can hear the gas hissing out. When the needle plugs up (and it often will) use the plunger to clear the blockage. I like the needle better than a trocar, which creates a larger wound and often leads to peritonitis.
> 
> In dire cases I've used a jack knife.
> 
> Forget the home remedies just get that gas out ASAP in the future.


My good friend Tinknal, this is the very reason to have a stiff piece of hose hangin around. I have done this more times than any to get the gas out of a cow. I have very little trouble with bloat, but sometimes you have it. Always a good idea to keep a short piece of conduit that the hose will pass threw to keep a cow from chewing it in two. > Marc


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## Karen in Alabam (Jul 21, 2010)

Sorry for your loss.

Just read all the comments, and I hope that I never have to deal with this, but will keep a hose handy anyway.


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## allenslabs (Feb 6, 2005)

She was laying with her feet out from under her, almost on her side but she would get to where her front were but the back were laying out sideways. I didn't know about that trick. I will definitely keep a piece of hose handy and learn where i can get that bloat block around here cause we lost a cow last year about this time of year. Not sure what in the world caused it though. I mean..nothing comes to mind. We aren't feeding any grain, the pasture is short and a few weeks ago we let them into a hay field. We did set out a grass bale earlier that day but it is just out of that pasture they had been eating from. I am not sure. 
I didn't know that cattle were so susceptible to bloat but I guess ya learn something new every day. We were at least fortunate enough to know it happened, what happened and that the meat was viable as we've lost 3 that there was no hope at eating the meat as one was middle summer and 95 degrees and her pelvis was pinched or something, one had a pelvic issue that we don't really know what happened but we've been giving injections to and were afraid to and the other was the one that bloated (I am almost positive) at the bale ring about this time last year.
Thank you all for your kind words. Farming really sucks some times.


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## Copperhead (Sep 12, 2011)

Lost a heifer myself this summer. I had just taken my two large heifers off the farm to be bred to a friend's bull. Near as I can figure, without the two "Big Girls" to run the show and dictate who gets to eat the treats first, the littlest heifer (about 400 lbs) ran to the apple tree and gorged herself. 

I found her laying on her side a few days later and brought her home and put her in a hammock as a sling to help her stand. She was drinking water and eating hay, but would not put any weight on her right (I think) side. Drenched her with mineral oil, attempted to tube her with a hose several times without any relief. Finally punctured her side to relieve the pressure

2 days later, had to puncture her again. She had quit eating or drinking or trying to stand. Ended up putting her in the freezer.


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## springvalley (Jun 23, 2009)

oneokie said:


> To the OP, when you say your heifer was laying down, was she on her side, or laying down with her feet and legs underneath her?
> 
> Many times bloat can be relieved by getting the cows feet and legs underneath them in a natural position. Put a halter or rope on their head and use that to pull them into a more normal resting position. Doing so will allow the gasses to pass naturally.


You know the more I think about it the more I have questions, was your heifer laying funny? Was she laying with her feet and or legs up hill just ever so much? Cattle if they lay down hill on their sides and can`t get their feet under themselves can bloat that way. I lost two steers this year that way, they lay with their backs down hill and can`t get up, thus they bloat and eventully die from suffecation from withen. I have no idea if this could have been a problem, but it very well may have. And as someone had said that bloat once an animal has had it is very prone to get it agian, that seems to happen alot. Sometimes you need to look outside the box for answers. > Thanks Marc


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