Cow worms: signs and symptoms, treatment and prevention

When growing and breeding cows in industrial or private farms, livestock breeders may face some problems, for example, with the defeat of animals with helminthiasis. The consequences of infection with worms in a cow are a decrease in productivity or, in some cases, the death of animals. Because of this, helminthiases can cause serious damage to any livestock farm.

Varieties of worms in cows

Worms parasitizing in the body of cows belong to different species and classes. But all of them in the process of life release toxins, and they are carried through the body of the animal with blood. Substances provoke serious disorders and pathologies in many organs.

Echinococcosis

The disease is common, chronic. The causative agent is a larval echinococcus that grows inside a cow's body for years and can reach a size of 5-10 cm. Sexually mature echinococci parasitize in the small intestine of some carnivores, but dogs are considered the main distributors.

Eggs of worms enter the cow's body with food and water, adults are more likely to become infected.

Consequences of the disease - exhaustion, sometimes death of animals, decrease in productivity. Treatment of echinococcosis has not been developed. Prevention consists in limiting the contact of cows with dogs, preventing them from entering pastures and feed stores.

Dictyocaulosis

The causative agent of this disease is nematodes from the Dictyocaulidae family, parasitizing in the lungs and bronchi of cows and other ruminants. Cows become infected on pastures while eating grass and at a watering place or through bedding. Nematodes parasitize in the lungs and bronchi.Dictyocaulosis presents with symptoms similar to bronchitis or bronchopneumonia.

Sick cows lose weight, become depressed, lose their appetite, nasal sinuses fill with mucus. If there is a blockage of the bronchi and trachea, the animal may die. Antihelminthic drugs are prescribed for treatment.

Telasiasis

Disease caused by nematodes. Activation of thelaziosis occurs in the summer months, the parasites are spread by flies. Helminths affect the eyes of cows, against the background of this, secondary infections are connected, resulting in serious visual impairment. Treatment is carried out with antiparasitic drugs.

Ascariasis

The disease is caused by roundworms, parasites of domestic animals and humans. Cows get sick with this disease everywhere, animals of all ages can get sick, but it is more severe in young individuals.The consequences of the disease can be exhaustion, pneumonia, hepatitis. It is difficult to destroy roundworms; albendazole-based anthelmintics are used to combat them.

Monieziosis

Helminthiasis refers to cestodosis, parasites affect the small intestine of ruminants. With a weak infestation, the symptoms of the disease are mild, with a strong one, the animals get seriously ill and often die. Moniesiosis can be almost asymptomatic, but in a chronic course, sick cows are stunted, they have an increase in lymph nodes, anemia of the mucous membranes, and a decrease in productivity.

Combined treatment, several anthelmintic drugs are used.

Routes of infection

Cows become infected with helminths by eating contaminated food or drinking water from open sources or in a barn containing eggs or larvae of parasites.They get there from the organisms of sick animals or carriers. The main ways in which infection occurs are through the digestive tract, through the skin, nose and eyes, through the bites of blood-sucking insects, through close contact of a sick individual with a he althy one.

Symptoms of parasites

Determining that a cow is infected with helminths can be difficult, since the development of the disease may be asymptomatic or there are signs, but they resemble the symptoms of infectious diseases. Diagnostics will help to differentiate some pathologies from others.

Infection with helminths can be indicated by: loss of weight, productivity, decrease in milk yield, loss of appetite, general weakness, as a result of which the animal lies most of the time, reluctantly rises to its feet, looks depressed.

Gastrointestinal disorders may occur - diarrhea or, conversely, constipation, exhaustion, anemia, blanching of the mucous membranes, loss of shine or hair loss, deterioration of milk quality.

Diagnostic measures

To diagnose helminthiases, feces and blood of sick animals are examined. If the disease is detected in time and treatment is started, the worms are successfully removed from the body of cows after anthelmintic treatment.

Diagnosis is made on the basis of data from laboratory studies of feces and secretions from other organs and on the basis of the results of immunological reactions. Additionally, epizootological data and clinical symptoms are used in the diagnosis. For analysis, they take feces, urine and sputum, bile, blood, muscle samples, pieces of skin, the contents of abscesses.

Cattle treatment rules

To get rid of worms, cows are prescribed complex treatment, in parallel with this, a thorough cleaning of the barn, equipment and disinfection is carried out.The feed is examined and, if sources of infection are identified in it, destroyed. Pastures, water that cows drink are also subject to research. If worms are found there, the place of grazing and watering is changed. Sick individuals are removed from the herd and kept separately during treatment.

Medications

Anthelmintic drugs that are chosen for the treatment of adult cows and calves differ depending on the disease, since their pathogens are different worms. Destroy parasites and remove them from the body of cows with anthelmintic drugs. They are administered by mouth or by injection, subcutaneously. Some medicines are added to food.

Dose of drugs depends on the weight of the animal. If the calf is very small, and worms are found in the cow, the baby is taken away from her and kept separately until the mother fully recovers.

Folk remedies and recipes

You can cure a cow of worms with the help of pumpkin seeds, linseed oil, birch tar. Wormwood works well, which can be added to grass or hay, or animals can be drunk with infusion from this plant (take 300 g of dry wormwood for 2 liters of boiling water, leave for 2-3 hours, then dilute the resulting infusion in a ratio of 1 to 20). The following plants have anthelmintic properties: calamus, common bracken, white hellebore, coriander, hazel, red quinoa, sage, hops, hemp, mountain ash, thyme, juniper. Grass and branches can be fed to cows 2-3 times a week in small portions.

Potential danger

Worms worsen the he alth of animals, they lose weight, that is, lose weight. In addition, the quality of milk and meat is deteriorating, with many helminthiases, the use of products from sick cows is prohibited, since helminths can be dangerous for humans. Do not use or feed to animals, for example, dogs and cats, not only meat and dairy products, but also waste - skins, bones.

Prevention measures

When symptoms appear, treatment is indispensable, but it is much easier and more profitable from an economic point of view not to treat animals, but to organize housekeeping so that diseases do not appear in it.

To reduce the likelihood of helminth infection, all cows on the farm should be given 2 times a year anthelmintic drugs for prevention. The premises where the animals are located must be disinfected at least 2 times a year, and can be processed more often.

Also, at least 2 times a year, you need to completely clean and change the litter, do not allow the animals to finish eating the food that has fallen on the floor, which in this way may already be infected with worm eggs. Change the water every day and monitor its quality. Change pastures, that is, do not graze cows in one place. It is advisable to keep calves separate from adult cows before carrying out planned treatments.

Helminthiases are dangerous because, without treatment, they lead to a decrease in the productivity of animals or even death. Compliance with the rules for caring for cows and carrying out preventive treatments will help prevent infection and the consequences that lead to helminthic diseases.

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