So far every farm call I go on becomes a marathon. Today's started out as a sick cow visit with Dr. Miranda. Her owner thought she was mildly ketotic after having milk fever after calving. When we got there it was she definitely looked sick and there was definitely some metritis going on. As we did our exam, Miranda hear the "ping" on the left flank of a displaced abdomen and let me try to find it myself. AND I DID IT!!! (there have been so many moments so far in the first two days where I have actually been able to apply what I have learned in class and finally understand the noises that professors make) So after hearing the ping, the options to treat her would be to either 1-open her up and perform surgery, omentopexy or abomasopexy, or 2-roll & toggle. Due to logistics the owner elected to try and roll & toggle. This procedure involves rolling the cow onto her back and allowing the abomasum (full of air) to rise up to the abdominal wall back to where it should be. After the abomasum has returned to its proper location, the veterinarian inserts toggles that will "keep" it in place and it hopefully wont flip again. Easier said then done since you are turning a fully grown holstein on her back for the entire procedure. After watching it being done, I am amazed at how strong the farmers and their families are along with learning different methods of restraining the animal that can make it go a whole lot smoother. For examping casting the cow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWPn0QuJ1ok#t=16s) to have them lay down on the correct side. It uses pressure points to make the animal want to lay down.
Once she got up from the procedure, she no longer had pings on the left side and hopefully it will heal with time. We also gave her fluids to help increase her appetite, to reduce the chance of her flipping again.
Sorry no photos :-( I really need to get in the habit of taking out my phone.
Side Note: I placed my first Endotracheal tube in a dog being neutered!! :-)
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