Background: Flexural deformities are anatomical deviations, in varying degrees, of one or more joints, and may have a congenital or acquired origin. Congenital contracture of the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) affects newborn calves and results in hyperflexion of the metacarpal-phalangeal joint, which in severe cases means that the animal must support its own weight on its fetlock joints. The aim of this study is to report the rapid and successful result of applying bilateral total tenotomy technique on a newborn bovine that had been diagnosed with severe bilateral DDFT contracture in the thoracic limbs.Case: A 3-week-old male bovine with a history of difficulty in maintaining a quadrupedal position was attended at the Veterinary Hospital of the Federal University of Tocantins. The animal had severe bilateral locomotor alterations in the thoracic members to the point that he walked on his fetlock joints. The physical examination revealed clinical parameters within the normal range. However, the locomotor system examination showed severe flexor deformity in the bilateral metacarpal-phalangeal joints, and the limbs were being supported on the dorsal face of the fetlock joints, which presented ulcerations, and was suggestive of a shortening of the DDFT. Based on the patient's history and clinical examination, as well as the severity of the tendon contractures, surgical treatment using the DDFT bilateral total tenotomy technique was decided upon. Postoperative treatment consisted of 2.5 mg/kg of enrofloxacin intramuscularly (IM), SID, for 5 days and 0.5 mg/kg meloxicam via IM, SID, for 3 days; as well as a dressing (cotton, medical bandage and a PVC mold) on the thoracic limbs to provide support and allow the animal to walk, until its complete recovery. One day after the surgery, the animal was able to walk with difficulty and some trembling; however, on the third day after the surgical procedure, it could stand up by itself, walk and graze normally. The surgical stitches were removed seven days after the operation, as the surgical wounds had healed adequately. The animal was followed-up for a one-month period after the total tenotomy, with no recurrence of any of the clinical signs, and the thoracic limbs had regained normal biomechanics.Discussion: Congenital flexural deformities are common in newborn calves of different breeds and their incidence is mainly in the thoracic limbs, especially in the carpal, distal interphalangeal and metacarpal-phalangeal joints as was reported in the animal in this study. The history and anamnesis of the animal, along with a thorough physical examination, in order to rule out any other congenital alterations, was extremely important in the diagnosis, and the classification of the severity of the deformity along with the choice of appropriate treatment in the present study. Although total tenotomy is rarely reported in the literature, and there are controversial results with calves, the surgical treatment was chosen in the present case due to the severity of the case. The DDFT bilateral total tenotomy surgical technique gave satisfactory results for the correction of severe bilateral flexor deformity in the thoracic limbs of the newborn crossbred calf. Complete recovery of the limb biomechanics was rapid, and there was no post-surgical complications, thus ensuring the animal could have a good and healthy life. Total DDFT tenotomy is considered a viable surgical procedure for calves with severe congenital flexor deformities; however, post-operative care is also important to ensure good final results.
Background: Changes in glycemic levels can negatively affect the body. Several techniques for the measurement of blood glucose have been described, but the enzymatic method is considered standard and more accurate in both humans and animals. The College of American Pathologists recommends the use of portable glucometers (PGs), which are routinely used in human medicine because this is an easy, relatively inexpensive method that delivers results quickly. The aim of this study was to compare the results of the measurement of blood glucose in cattle obtained using portable Accu-Check® glucometer with the enzymatic method (EM), which is still considered standard.Materials, Methods & Results: Thirty crossbred cattle (Bos taurus), male and female, of different ages were evaluated. Through a puncture of the jugular vein, 10 mL of blood was collected, and one drop was immediately used in an Accu-Chek® PG; the remaining blood was stored in tubes containing sodium fluoride and tubes containing EDTA. The samples were packaged and sent to the laboratory for processing. Blood glucose was measured in the sodium fluoride samples using the enzymatic-colorimetric method (EM) employing Labtest® glucose kits with automatic ELISA spectrophotometer readings. The glycemic values obtained in this study with PG and EM ranged from 62 to 163.3 mg/dL. Mean glucose concentrations for the PG and EM methods were 93.53 mg/dL and 94.84 mg/dL, respectively, with no statistical difference (P > 0.05). The glycemia measurement results generated by both tests were normally distributed by the Shapiro–Wilk test (P > 0.05) and equal variances by the Levene test (P > 0.05). Discussion: The glycemic values obtained in this study meant that most of the mean glycemic values evaluated were >45 to 75 mg/dL, considered a reference for the species. This may have occurred due to the stress of handling during sample collection. Some authors compared the GP and EM methods and reported that the mean glucose concentrations obtained using PGs were significantly lower than those using the EM in both cattle and sheep and suggested using a correction factor for PGs. The error rates between PG and EM in our study ranged from 1.7 to 7.8%, much lower than the limits set by the Food and Drug Administration, which stipulates that PG cannot have error rates greater than 20% for blood glucose concentration. Comparison of PG and EM efficacy has been reported for dogs, cats, and horses, and significant differences were observed in the statistical analysis. In studies from other authors concluded that PG provides significantly different results from EM in the measurement of bovine and sheep blood glucose, but the final values can be corrected in order to obtain reliable results to be used in clinical practice. Hematocrit below 30% leads to erroneously high results, whereas hematocrit greater than 55% may give erroneously low results. However, failures are mainly caused by the user, such as improper application of the sample, excessive time to perform the exam, lack of equipment maintenance, and improper storage of test strips. PGs are becoming a very useful tool in the clinical practice with small animals, as studies have shown its reliability in relation to the EM, which is considered the gold standard. This practice may also be extended to cattle due to the reliability of PGs, as indicated in this study.
The present study aimed to identify and describe cardiac alterations in sheep experimentally poisoned with Palicourea marcgravii through analysis of serum cardiac biomarkers (serum troponin I and creatine kinase - CK-MB) and electro and echocardiographic assessments to contribute to a better understanding of the poisoning pathophysiology. P. marcgravii is the main plant within a group of 22 species that cause sudden death in Brazil; its toxic principle is sodium monofluoroacetate. Eight healthy crossbreed male sheep, aged between five and twelve months, weighing 14 to 27kg, were evaluated. The animals received 1g kg-1 of P. marcgravii plants orally. The sheep were evaluated before administering the plant (T0) through electro and echocardiography and blood collection to assess cardiac biomarkers (CK-MB and cTnI). Collections and analyses were repeated every four hours until the animal’s death. During the study, there was the presence of extravasation of serum troponin I carried out in a qualitative test, with positive values at time T4, and the serum CK-MB biomarker had a peak at T4 and slightly decreased at T8. The electro and echocardiographic examinations showed that the cause of death in these animals was due to acute heart failure characterized by arrhythmias, tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation, drop in cardiac output, left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction by the progressive decrease in the LV ejection fraction (EF), decrease in LV fractional shortening (FS), and decrease in aortic flow velocity and aortic flow gradient. This study seems to be the first to evaluate cardiac alterations in sheep poisoned by P. marcgravii through cardiac biomarkers and electro and echocardiographic exams.
Background: In horses, an increase in the volume of penis and foreskin can be caused by trauma. The resultant edema interferes with the retraction of the penis and cause paraphimosis. Surgical intervention through penectomy is indicated in cases wherein an alternative treatment is not feasible. Partial penectomy can prolong the life and reproductive function of many stallions. The present study aims to report on the methodological, functional, and economic feasibility of a successful case of the use of Williams technique for partial penectomy performed in the field in a horse with paraphimosis, preserving urinary, productive, and reproductive functions.Case: A 10-year-old horse weighing 500 kg had clinical signs of paraphimosis due to the formation of granulomatous tissue following trauma to the glans region. A surgical intervention, namely a partial penectomy was decided to be performed to prevent injury from priapism. Due to the limited resources provided by the owner and the impossibility of moving the animal to a surgical center in a veterinary hospital, the procedure was performed in the field, with prior sanitization and preparation of the environment used to perform surgery. The horse was tranquilized with intravenous xylazine hydrochloride and acepromazine, with subsequent induction of anesthesia with ready-to-use (RTU) guaifenesin bolus and maintenance of anesthesia with an intravenous association of RTU guaifenesin, xylazine hydrochloride, and ketamine. The distal third of the penis was amputated using the recommended Williams technique. Although the complications like dehiscence and emergence of granulation tissue occurred after surgery, these were controlled in the daily follow-up of the animal and post-surgical treatment.Discussion:Paraphimosis predisposed the horse to abrasions and edema of the exposed portion of the penis. However, there was no urine retention, which suggested that the urethral ostium and the urethra had no lesions. Because the granulomatous lesions were located in the distal third of the penis and the extent of penile exposure was small, the partial penectomy technique proved effective in solving the permanent exposure of the penis. The anesthetic protocol used was inexpensive, easy to execute, and effective, and no anesthetic complications occurred, proving this protocol to be efficient for the anesthetic induction of animals in the field.In addition to being reliable and widespread, the Williams technique was recommended to prevent possible urethral stenosis and the development of contact dermatitis by urine. This technique makes a rapid recovery of the animal possible, with improvement of its physiological parameters, and due to ease of being able to be done in the field, it is also inexpensive. The edema and the granulation tissue that occurred after surgery were controlled with medication. In general, post-penectomy animals are not used for reproduction. This makes the present report an important contribution, because in cases in which the lesions present a distal disposition and the penile exposure is small, stallions have a chance of maintaining reproductive function after surgery, even with a long period of evolution before surgical treatment. This was demonstrated in the present case, as the animal in this case later impregnated a mare, with the pregnancy confirmed by ultrasound examination. Partial penectomy is a resolution technique for cases of traumatic paraphimosis, in which exuberant granulation tissue is formed in the distal third of the penis, with a long period of evolution. The surgery can be done in the field, with a low surgical cost to the owner, and a good productive and reproductive prognosis for the animal.Keywords: partial penectomy, paraphimosis, Williams technique, horse.Descritores: penectomia parcial, parafimose, técnica de William, equino.Título: Penectomia em equino com parafimose
Background: The milk-feeding phase, wherein whole milk is the natural food, is critical to calf development, health, and vitality. However, feeding milk to calves is costly in the rearing system because the milk supplied to calves is not sold. In farms in which the average production is high, excess colostrum and transitional milk are produced that are used to feed calves until weaning. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of heifers exclusively fed colostrum (including transitional milk) or raw whole milk.Materials, Methods & Results: Immediately after their birth, 83 ear-tagged healthy Holstein Friesian heifers adequately receiving the initial colostrum were separated into two experimental groups. Group 1 (n = 34) was fed only fresh whole milk and group 2 (n = 49) was fed only colostrum diluted in water at a 2:1 ratio. Colostrum was removed from cows until the fifth day after birth and was stored in sanitized disposable plastic bottles, stored in a freezer at -20°C and before administration, the colostrum was thawed. Liquid diets were administered using a bottle twice a day during the first month, namely 2 L in the morning and 2 L in the afternoon. During the second month, the heifers were fed 4 L once a day in the morning. The heifers had access to an enclosure with fodder, in addition to concentrate specifically for heifers, which was placed in an individual trough daily. The leftovers were weighed at the end of the afternoon. The heifers were abruptly weaned when they reached a daily intake of 1 kg of concentrate. The heifers were individually weighed at birth and at 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 days. The average weights were 40.4, 54.1, 74.5, 95.1, 108.2, and 126.1 kg in group 1 and 45.4, 58.4, 78.2, 95.9, 110.8, and 125.1 kg in group 2. The use of diluted colostrum was satisfactory as it resulted in similar weight gains.Discussion: Feeding milk to calves is one of the most cost-increasing factors to a dairy farm because the total milk volume fed to animals at this stage is not sold and results in a large loss in income for the farmer. Calf management during the milk-feeding phase is of the utmost importance, especially in the first days after birth, to ensure the development of the systemic immune response of animals. The performance of these animals in the first months affects their subsequent development. Whole milk is commonly used to feed calves for 8 to 12 consecutive weeks. However, whole milk can be replaced by a good substitute, such as colostrum and transitional milk. The aim of this study was to show that these substitutes are effective alternatives for calf development and cost reduction. The weight gain of animals fed diluted colostrum was similar to that of animals fed only whole milk, which corroborates the results of previous studies on the development of calves treated with colostrum-based liquid diet, fermented or not, with and without additives. Those studies reported favorable growth rates in comparison with the traditional production system as a result of higher dietary protein levels in colostrum-based diets. The availability of roughages and concentrates should be initiated during the milk-feeding phase, as it is fundamental for rumen development, helps in early weaning and reduces expenses during this period. Replacing whole milk with colostrum and transitional milk for feeding calves, stimulating roughage, and concentrating intake can result in significant savings in the rearing system.
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