Cow Attack: Surgcal focus

Published on: May 13, 2022

This poor pregnant cow was attacked in her cattle shed by a large, out of control dog. The cattle shed was not near a footpath, right next to the farmhouse and the dog was without an owner.  

 

The cow suffered catastrophic damage to her face. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen such damage on a cow and normally this sort of injury would give genuine reason to consider euthanasia, but because I was on site less than an hour after the incident and because the cow was trying to eat, there was some hope she could be saved. 

 

There is a ‘Golden Hour’ with most traumatic injuries, which is important for blood supply to injured tissues and infection of contaminated wounds. The fact we were able to attend so promptly was certainly a help in my deciding to try to save her. Also the fact that she was attempting to eat was a promising sign. It’s always an important consideration that anything we do to attempt to save an animal has some chance of success and does not cause unacceptable or unmanageable pain. This cow was very precious to the owner having a fantastic pedigree and had been imported as an embryo from America. 

 

Once she was in the crush, the cow was sedated just enough to calm her to a standstill. I carefully removed bits of silage, hair and saliva from the wound and then cleaned it thoroughly to reduce the risk of any infection. I then pieced the flesh back together – like a jigsaw, carefully apposing the tissues and mucosal membranes of the nostrils to ensure everything aligned back as it had been before. 

 

Two and half hours later and over 50 stitches inside and out, the cow looked much better. I prescribed antibiotics and anti-inflammatories for 6 days and then went back last week to remove the stitches. 

 

She’s been happy and well since and she’s still the boss cow at the feed face. She’s also now calved, with both ‘mum and baby’ doing well which is great news. Though she is not too keen on handling any longer.  

 

Many livestock are not so lucky. Around 15,000 sheep a year are killed by dogs in the UK and farmers can lose as many as 40 animals in a single incident. Data from the NFU shows that dog attacks on farm animals is a growing problem, costing the industry over £1million a year. 

 

Dogs have a hunting instinct, which is triggered by the sight and scent of ‘prey’ – especially if the animals start to run away, or in this case when the cow became defensive as the rest in her group had small calves at foot.  People tend to underestimate their dog’s innate hunting instinct, or over-estimate how well their dog is trained but a survey by the RSPCA of more than 3,000 dog owners showed that 24% of dogs will chase livestock or wildlife. 

 

This awful injury shows just how dangerous dogs off the lead can be when instinct, chase and fear kick in. Dog faeces are also a risk to livestock as they can spread Neospora – a parasitic disease that is the most commonly diagnosed cause of pregnancy loss (abortion) in UK cattle – as well as spreading tapeworm to sheep. Please, please keep your dog under control and on a lead around livestock and ALWAYS pick up their poo!