Assessment of visceral pain associated with metritis in dairy cows

Abstract

Metritis is a common disease in dairy cattle, but to our knowledge, no work has assessed pain associated with this disease. Tissue palpation is commonly used to assess pain in human and veterinary medicine. The objective of this study was to evaluate visceral pain responses during rectal palpation, with and without uterine palpation, in healthy cows and in cows diagnosed with metritis. A total of 49 Holstein dairy cows (mean ± standard deviation parity of 2.8±1.8) were subjected to systematic health checks every 3 d after parturition for 21 d, scoring for vaginal discharge (0 to 4); 13 cows showed a discharge score ≥2 during at least 1 health check and were classified as metritic, whereas 29 cows were classified as healthy and showed no sign of this or any other disease (including mastitis and lameness). Back arch and heart rate variability before examination and during palpation were recorded using video and heart rate monitors. Back arch (cm(2)) on the day of diagnosis was greater in metritic versus healthy cows (1,034±72 vs. 612±48cm(2)), and greater during rectal palpation with uterine palpation versus rectal palpation without uterine palpation (869±45 vs. 777±45cm(2)). Heart rate frequency domain analysis showed that the low-frequency portion was higher in cows with metritis versus healthy cows (16.5±1.2 vs. 12.9±1.0). Time domain analysis showed that the standard deviation between normal to normal interbeat intervals and the root mean square of successive differences both decreased during rectal palpation with uterine palpation versus rectal palpation without uterine palpation (1.9±0.1 vs. 2.5±0.1 and 1.3±0.1 vs. 1.7±0.1, respectively). Together, these results indicate that the inflammation associated with metritis is painful, and that the pain response can be detected during rectal palpation with and without uterine palpation. Rectal palpation with uterine palpation appears to be more aversive than rectal palpation without uterine palpation, suggesting that the former should be avoided when possible.

Randomized, controlled clinical trial on the efficacy of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs for the treatment of acute puerperal metritis in dairy cows

“…Chenault et al (2004) and McLaughlin et al (2012) found greater clinical cure (15-19 percentage points) for cows treated with ceftiofur compared with untreated control cows. Because of several concerns such as animal welfare, painful disease, and economic losses (Drillich et al, 2001;Lima et al, 2014;Stojkov et al, 2015), we did not include an untreated control group in our experiment. Therefore, we cannot determine whether the cows initially treated with ketoprofen that did not need extT self-cured or recovered due to the antiinflammatory, antipyretic, and analgesic effects of the NSAID.…”

“…Cows with APM have signs of systemic illness, are at greater risk of an impaired reproductive performance, are more likely to be culled, and have a greater risk of reduced milk production in comparison to healthy cows (Fourichon et al, 2000;Sheldon et al, 2006;Wittrock et al, 2011). Moreover, APM is a painful disease, and the pain response is particularly obvious during transrectal palpation of the uterus (Stojkov et al, 2015). In consequence, animal welfare as well as economic reasons illustrate the need of an effective treatment.…”

“…Moreover, Sannmann et al (2013b) showed no negative effect on clinical cure, milk yield, serum haptoglobin concentration, and subsequent uterine health when cows with APM within the first 5 DIM were left untreated. However, animal welfare has to be considered in cows without any treatment with regard to visceral pain of the uterus and systemic signs of illness (Sheldon et al, 2006;Stojkov et al, 2015).…”

Eating and rumination activities two weeks prepartum to one month postpartum in 100 healthy cows and cows with peripartum diseases

“…It is possible that a negative energy balance caused by reduction in feed intake led to immunosuppression and thus infection (Ingvartsen and Andersen, 2000;Sordillo and Raphael, 2013). The protracted reduction in eating time may have been linked to pain caused by uterine inflammation (Stojkov et al, 2015). It was shown that cows with retained placenta alone and cows with retained placenta followed by metritis had a reduction in feed intake by 18 and 22 to 55%, respectively (Zamet et al, 1979b;Laven and Peters, 1996).…”

Reducing the incidence of acute puerperal metritis in primiparous cows by application of pegbovigrastim in a Holstein dairy herd

“…The disease compromises animal welfare as it causes visceral pain (Stojkov et al 2015) and has an economical impact due to detrimental effects on reproductive performance, milk production and survivability (Overton and Fetrow 2008).…”