cow with cancer eye

Anonymous-0 · Feb 16, 2011

I have a cow that is about 6 years old and has had an eye problem the last two years. Her eye swells up and bleeds. It gets better at times. She has a good calf every year. Is there a cure for this? Should I take her to the sale? Is this cancer eye? Thanks for your help. Roy

justanothercase · Feb 16, 2011

talk to the vet might want to cut the eye out. she might get mean after that though some animals dont like having a blind spot. as long as she raises a good calf id keep her, just get the eye fixed. youll get docked for the eye at the sale anyway(i know nobody eats the eye). Definitely salvageable. jm2cents

thurlow · Feb 16, 2011

Might well be that no one will buy her at the sale barn. If there's a local slaughter house, they might take her with the understanding that you'll only be paid after she's been killed and inspected. btdt.

GeneMO · Feb 16, 2011

Yeah, they will steal her at market. Might try to get the eye removed.

Gene

Kow Farmer · Feb 16, 2011

I had a hereford cow with a spot on her eye years back. Vet looked at her and said this cancer would never go away. I was told from an older rancher that herefords are known for this because of so much white on their face. Very hard on the cows if they are in a lot of sunlight. She was my best cow, gave me great big calves too. Had to send her to slaughter because of vaginal prolapse. I was just sick about this. I guess it is a lesson learned the hard way. Good luck to you. I wish you the best.
Kow Farmer

Erik Ks farmer · Feb 16, 2011

I had one last year, the vet said they could remove the eye and sew the lid shut and it may or may not help her. I let her live it out on the farm, she didnt last long. If you need the money to reinvest, take her to the sale while she still has some weight on her.

IBorange in TX · Feb 16, 2011

Lemmond,
Been there, had hereford cattle and that cancer eye problem seems to follow them. Talk to a good vet about the eye problem. My vet removed the area around the eye and burned that area. It seem to help for a couple of years, but the cancer came back. No one at the sale was interested in taking cow. She was a good cow and delivered good calves. I then began running a limosine bull with the hereford cows and taking the cross heifers and saving them. In doing so, the cancer eye problem did not occur on the heifers. I was lucky I guess. Ran 30 head of cross heifers back to another limosin bull. That is what my herd is made up of today. No eye problems,,,,knock on wood, I think the saying goes. HTH
Good luck

JDseller · Feb 16, 2011

I have had several over the years. I have had the Vet cut the eye out but it did not seem to help the cow out in the long run. I stopped doing anything about it. If they are not in pain and still raise a calf I keep them. I have some old Hereford cows that will be twenty two years old this year. Still have good calves. I do keep them closer to the house and feed them silage/hay ration in the winter.

Jerry/MT · Feb 17, 2011

This is a typical problem for some lines of Hereford cattle.If you use a Hereford bull with pigment around the eye, he will pass this trait on to his offspring and they will be resistant to cancer eye. That won"t help this cow but that"s the long term fix to this problem.

jackinok · Feb 17, 2011

No,,,,what you need to do is be waiting at the vet supply when it opens,buy some eye spray,go straight home,without stopping for coffee,put her in the lot,and treat her,before every cow in your herd has it!watch every cow and calf you own for a few days.pinkeye is not cancer,its not a death sentance,its an infection that left untreated will rot out the eye,which leads to cancer,which in cattle is often not cancer by the way but the infection gone wild.it will spread through your herd,to you,to you children,dogs,cats anything on your place! so treat it now,treat it aggresivly and early.Dont take her to the sale barn,unless you just want to get rid of her.NEWS FLASH!!every cow will get pinkeye!!the old story about herefords is a myth!you just notice it on a white face is all...want to stop about 99.9% of it?MOW YOUR PASTURES! its caused most often by those old cows having to root around in that tall dead woody grass that they wouldnt eat if they were starving,to get at the new tender growth on bottom.when they do they stir up dirt,dust,pollen,seeds all kinds of bad things which gets in their eyes,the same way it does yours.it can be passed from one cow to the next across fence lines when old cows rub noses accross the fence also.

rrlund · Feb 17, 2011

If it's been going on for 2 years and it's bleeding,it's not pinkeye. They just get a blister over the eye and if left untreated,the eyeball will wither like a prune and they'll go blind.

Jerry/MT · Feb 17, 2011

Cancer eye is not a myth! Surgery is the usual fix when it happens, if you catch it early enough.

Pinkeye is caused by a bacterial infection and there are vaccines available to prevent that. The bacteria are carried by flies so insecticidal ear tags help prevent it.

If the animal has it already, there are some anitbiotics that will help cure it.

jackinok · Feb 17, 2011

true,but it clears up or almost does so its NOT cancer,and pinkeye will get better and worse simply as hot or cool weather sets in.it will also bleed if it gets bad enough,simply because of the open infection.(though your absolutely correct, after two years eye has probably busted)10-1 shes got(or had) pinkeye or has something like a wild barley seed stuck in it.either way get her in a lot,and a head gate if possible,and treat it now!ive seen poor old range cattle with quite literally the whole side of their skull ate off with cancer walking in circles blind as a bat!.absolutely no need in it whatsoever, whatever it is its 100% treatable.if you aint got a lot, run her in the woods ,rope her and cinch her head up to a tree. or a barn post like I did as a kid!lol

jackinok · Feb 17, 2011

never said it was a myth! said herefords being more prone to pinkeye is a myth.they,and ALL english breeds are more prone to eye damage because of their short stocky heads with eyes wide apart. but they are no more prone to pinkeye than any other... bottom line treat it now its bs to put it off for two years.

rrlund · Feb 17, 2011

I had a heifer calf this past summer that I'd have sworn had pinkeye just from looking at her from a distance. When I got her up where I could really get a good look,it was what looked like a tumor on her lower eyelid. It was so big,it looked like it was on her eyeball,as it covered the whole eye. I didn't figure there was much I could do about it at the time,so I left it alone. By the time we weaned her,it had gone down by probably 75%. Right now,I couldn't even tell you which one it was. It's completely gone.

jackinok · Feb 17, 2011

thats because she didnt have a cancerous tumor and never did have.most likely she had quite simply something in her eye ( wild barleys the worst) that got infected and five minutes with a water hose and a antibiotic would have likely fixed her back up in a weeks time.

rrlund · Feb 17, 2011

Have you ever tried any of that Vetericyn Pinkeye spray? I didn't know there was a difference,but I ordered some Vetericyn Wound Spray online. The wife said TSC had it,so when we ran out she went and got some,but that one said "pinkeye spray" on the bottle and the one I got online said "wound spray".

mlauk · Feb 17, 2011

I"ve had 2 cows over the years that had eye cancer. The first one I didn"t have her eye cutout and she died within a year or two. After that experience when another cow had eye cancer, I had her eye cutout and she has been doing fine for the last 2 years.

jackinok · Feb 17, 2011

I havent used that brand, I honestly cant recall the brand i use,and dont have my truck here today. I just buy it at the vet supply here. bro in law put one of those patch deals over ones eye last summer(sold at tsc and other places called cover up) and it worked.but ive not used the vetricin.

jackinok · Feb 17, 2011

KEROPLEX is what i use ,whenever i unload one they go through the chute for shots and I spray their eyes too,just on general principals.those cows that get the viral form of pinkeye is the ones that wind up with cancer.you'll clear it up and it will be back in a week.thats why most people wont even look at one with a bad eye or eyes.just not worth the risk of getting it started.

kyhayman · Feb 17, 2011

I'd go ahead and invest in a vet visit. Sick cows dont bring much regardless of the market and internet diagnosis without photos isnt real accurate.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 17, 2011

Squamous cell Carcinoma is usually on the pink tissues around the eye, not on the eyeball itself. Hereford cattle and Belgian Draft horses with their white faces are more likely to get it and if you catch it early, there is a radio type gun the vet can point at it and hold the trigger for a minute and it just cooks that tumor. Also seen a vet take liquid nitrogen freeze a nail and then freeze the tumor with the nail.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 17, 2011

Thanks all you techs for some good info. This is a brown cow not hereford. She has a good calf every year. Sometimes the eye gets a lot better but it still comes back. I will pen her and take her to a vet and see what he says. I live in SE Okla and there are no slaughter houses within 150 miles. Roy

mnoliverguy · Feb 18, 2011

Kow farmer,

The next time you have a prolapse learn to put her back together. It is not that hard and they most time do not repeat at least in my experiance.

cow with cancer eye

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