It had been a long day and the telephone’s ring was not a welcome sound. The call, however, was urgent. A large Charolais cow had calved just hours before and was now down. The owner said that the cow was totally paralyzed.

During the winter months, this often signals a mineral deficiency condition known as grass tetany.  Because winter grass is so low in magnesium, cattle that are stressed during this season may suffer paralysis as the muscles are locked in contraction because of the deficiency. Once the animals are discovered, even immediate treatment will not always save them.  

Other conditions can also paralyze a cow at the time of birth.  Calcium deficiencies are common since the body’s calcium supplies are depleted for the manufacture of milk.  The resulting condition, called milk fever, will also paralyze a cow. This can lead to death in just hours.

Cattle are also susceptible to toxic infections of the uterus and of the mammary gland. 

These can send them into shock and mimic the deficiency conditions perfectly, as can internal hemhorrage from a difficult delivery.  The mere act of a large calf squeezing through at the pelvis may cause paralysis. This is due to compression of the cow’s legs’ nerve supply from the hip bones of the fetus. 

All these things went through my mind as I drove through the night.  I knew I would have to try to quickly determine the problem and go about treating it if my patient was still alive by the time I got there.

I arrived at the farm. Mrs. Parasim was waiting at the gate. We wound through sheds and hog pens until the road started into the rolling pasture.  When I asked her if the pasture was dry enough to drive in, she assured me that it was.

As we went on, she asked, “You do have a four-wheel drive, don’t you, doctor?” As I was about to tell her that I did not, the truck bogged down and refused to go further. Since the cow was still some distance off, I packed several things in my bag and walked with Mrs. Parasim in the direction of the patient. 

We found our huge, ballooning white cow slightly on her back in a shallow depression in the pasture.  I explained to Mrs. Parasim that I would first need to pull the cow into an upright sitting position.  That would prevent further bloat.

Once I had accomplished this, the cow bellowed, lurched to her feet, and ran off into the night.  She was no more ill than I was. She had merely been off-balance, like a turtle on its back and needed only to be pulled upright.

As I watched the cow run off, I said to Mrs. Parasim, “We’ll have to go and get your tractor to pull my truck out of the bog.” 

“Oh” she said, “The tractor has a flat tire.”

(Dr. Fred Conkel is a veterinarian and owner of Westgate Animal Clinic in Libby.)