How do you treat a lumpy jaw in cattle

Treatment Is Difficult

This bony lump is easy to diagnose, but hard to treat. Since it’s a bone infection, “it must be treated from the inside out, via the bloodstream that serves the bone,” says Cope. The usual treatment is to put sodium iodide into the jugular vein – a treatment that may need repeating in 10 days.

Recommended treatment for lumpy jaw usually includes sodium iodide, but this treatment is often ineffective and should be considered an adjunct, at best, to appropriate antibiotic therapy. Any discussion of treatment also must allow for the tremendous variation in the severity of osteomyelitis caused by A. bovis.

Control and Prevention of Lumpy Jaw

In the case of an isolated incident in an individual animal, the best approach to prevention and control is to isolate and humanely slaughter the affected animal as soon as economically feasible or when the animal starts exhibiting clinical symptoms of pain and inappetence.

Actinomycosis, commonly called ‘Lumpy Jaw’, is caused by the bacteria Actinomyces bovis, which is a normal inhabitant of the bovine mouth. Actinomycosis is a chronic bacterial disease and is more common in cattle than in goats and sheep.

Use of a dewormer in the benzimidazoles class (Panacur/Safeguard, Valbazen and Synanthic) may be indicated in these cases. Some research has shown a benefit to using the two classes at the same time. The often-forgotten concept of rotating classes might also be helpful in some cases.

Severe bottle jaw is seen in chronic liver fluke infections and haemonchosis (Barbers Pole worm) because these parasites feed on blood. Usually in Australia, chronic liver fluke is seen in the winter and spring, while haemonchosis is seen in summer and autumn.