Effects of selected nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on acute-phase protein levels after dehorning in Holstein heifers

et al. 2021

The use of local anesthesia and a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) can reduce indicators of pain and inflammation and encourage self-rewarding behavior in calves following disbudding. Although the use of sedation may be recommended as a best practice for disbudding, there is little research in this area. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of xylazine sedation in conjunction with a local anesthetic and an NSAID in calves undergoing cautery disbudding. One hundred twenty-two group-housed female and male Holstein calves fed milk with automated feeders, aged 13 to 44 d, were enrolled over 9 replicates and randomly allocated to 1 of 2 treatments: (1) sedated: lidocaine cornual nerve block, 0.5 mg/kg meloxicam (administered subcutaneously) and 0.2 mg/ kg xylazine (administered intramuscularly), or (2) nonsedated: lidocaine cornual nerve block and meloxicam. Outcomes collected consisted of feeding behavior (collected using automated milk feeders), latency to drink milk following disbudding, play behavior (induced by adding bedding), lying behavior, mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT, measured using a pressure force algometer), struggling behavior during disbudding, length of time to administer the nerve block, length of time to disbud, and serum haptoglobin concentrations. Data were analyzed using mixed models with a fixed effect for baseline values and a random effect for trial replicate. Linear regression was used to assess continuous outcomes, logistic regression for binary outcomes, and Poisson and negative binomial models for count data with negative binomial models used if the over dispersion term was significant. There were no detected differences between the treatment groups in mean daily milk consumption in the 72-h following disbudding. Sedated calves had reduced average milk drinking speed from 0 to 24 h and 24 to 48 h following disbudding compared with nonsedated calves, but no difference was detected from 48 to 72 h. Sedated calves had reduced MNT at 0, 60, and 240 min after disbudding, but no differences were detected between groups at 24 h after disbudding. Nonsedated calves had 4.5 times the odds (95% CI: 1.5-13.2) of struggling more than twice during the disbudding procedure compared with sedated calves, and it took less time to administer a nerve block to sedated calves compared with nonsedated. At +3 h, nonsedated calves were 79 times (95% CI: 22.4 to 279.2) more likely to play compared with sedated calves, and 24 h after disbudding, sedated calves were 2 times more likely to play compared with nonsedated calves (95% CI: 0.93-4.3). The results indicate that calves sedated with xylazine for cautery disbudding responded less to painful stimuli (disbudding and MNT) both during and following the procedure and had a higher rate of play behavior 24 h following sedation compared with the nonsedated calves, but xylazine may also have a prolonged carryover effect that affects suckling behavior for 48 h following sedation.

Section: Pain and Inflammationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Randomized controlled trial assessing the effects of xylazine sedation in 2- to 6-week-old dairy calves disbudded with a cautery iron

et al. 2021

“…Inflammation caused by procedures such as disbudding can result in increased haptoglobin concentrations over time (Allen et al, 2013;Glynn et al, 2013). The provision of a local anesthetic and an NSAID results in lowered haptoglobin concentrations (for up to 2-3 d) compared with calves provided with less or no pain control for disbudding procedures (Ballou et al, 2013;Erdogan et al, 2019;Reedman et al, 2020).…”

Section: Haptoglobinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graduate Student Literature Review: Role of pain mitigation on the welfare of dairy calves undergoing disbudding

et al. 2022

This review synthesizes research findings on the pain and welfare of dairy calves undergoing disbudding procedures. We describe disbudding practices in North America as well as the use and perceptions of pain control for these procedures. Governing bodies across Canada and the United States, including each country's veterinary medical association and nationwide initiatives such as proAction and Farmers Assuring Responsible Management (FARM), recommend or require the use of a local anesthetic, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), and a sedative for disbudding procedures. Although the use of pain relief for disbudding has increased over the past decade or so, some in the dairy industry still do not believe that pain control for disbudding is necessary. As a painful procedure, disbudding has numerous welfare impacts on the calf both during and following the procedure that can be categorized under all 3 principles of animal welfare: natural living, biological functioning, and affective state. The use of pain control for disbudding; namely, a local anesthetic and NSAID, can improve welfare outcomes such as procedure-induced pain behavior, cortisol concentrations, mechanical nociceptive threshold, emotional states, and so on, compared with no pain control for the procedure. Although extensive research exists on pain control practices for disbudding, this review identified further gaps in knowledge and areas for future research. Mechanical nociceptive threshold can be evaluated around the disbudding wounds and is a reliable test in older calves; however, this outcome in very young calves after caustic paste disbudding has been reported to be inconclusive compared with that in older calves. As well, research evaluating xylazine sedation for disbudding has reported both potentially positive and negative results that are difficult to interpret or base suggestions on for the use of this drug. Finally, wounds caused by disbudding take a long time to heal (up to 13 wk) and have increased sensitivity for the entire healing process. Therefore, future research should aim to (1) determine accurate behavioral tests for calves under 1 wk of age undergoing disbudding to better understand their experience, (2) further attempt to understand the effects of xylazine sedation for disbudding and potential impacts of providing this medication, and (3) determine more ways to reduce the healing time and pain experienced by the calf after disbudding procedures.

“…Haptoglobin is an acute phase protein and an indicator of inflammation in cattle that has been reported to increase in response to disbudding (Allen et al, 2013;Glynn et al, 2013). Calves provided with both a local anesthetic and an NSAID for disbudding procedures have been reported to have decreased haptoglobin concentrations compared with calves receiving less or no pain control (Ballou et al, 2013;Erdogan et al, 2019;Reedman et al, 2020). Stressful or painful events such as disbudding have also been reported to affect the lying behavior of calves (Molony and Kent, 1997;Black et al, 2017;Sutherland et al, 2018a), including (in the 4 h after disbudding) spending less time lying (Sutherland et al, 2019) and being more restless (moving from standing to lying frequently) (Sutherland et al, 2018b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of plane of nutrition and analgesic drug treatment on wound healing and pain following cautery disbudding in preweaning dairy calves

et al. 2022