Rectal Temperature, Calving-Related Factors, and the Incidence of Puerperal Metritis in Postpartum Dairy Cows

Abstract

The objectives of this study were as follows: 1) to evaluate the association among abnormal calving, parity, and season on the incidence of puerperal metritis (PM) and clinical endometritis (CE) during d 3 to 13 and 20 to 30 postpartum, respectively; 2) to describe the rectal temperature (RT) of cows with PM before diagnosis; and 3) to document associations among PM, CE, and reproductive performance in lactating dairy cows. This study followed a prospective observational study design. Cows were classified as having an abnormal calving status (AC), i.e., cows calving with dystocia, twins, retained fetal membranes, or some combination of these conditions, and having a normal calving status (NC). Daily RT was recorded from d 3 to 13 postpartum for all cows, and health examinations were performed on cows that appeared not well. A total of 450 calvings were evaluated. Cows with an AC had greater odds of PM than cows with NC [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.8; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.9 to 8.0). A season by parity interaction showed that primiparous cows that calved during the warm season had lower AOR of PM than during the cool season (0.24; 95% CI = 0.09 to 0.62), whereas multiparous cows did not have seasonal effects on PM (1.43; 95% CI = 0.65 to 3.18). Cows with AC have greater AOR for CE than cows with NC (2.8; 95% CI = 1.7 to 4.9), and greater AOR of CE were detected in cows diagnosed with PM than in cows without PM (2.2; 95% CI = 1.1 to 3.9). Rectal temperature in cows with PM increased significantly 24 h before diagnosis of PM, reaching 39.2 +/- 0.05 degrees C on the day of diagnosis. In cows with PM and fever at diagnosis, the RT began to increase from 72 to 48 h before the diagnosis of PM and continued to increase to 39.7 +/- 0.09 degrees C on d 0 (day of diagnosis). Nonetheless, cows with PM without fever at diagnosis had no daily increases in RT before diagnosis of PM. Still, the RT on d 0 was different from cows without PM. Cows without PM had a stable RT (38.6 +/- 0.01 degrees C). There were no detected differences in first-service conception risk or cumulative pregnancy risk by 150 d postpartum between cows with or without PM. Still, a season effect on first-service conception AOR (warm vs. cool = 0.98; 95% CI = 0.18 to 0.72) and accumulated pregnancy AOR by 150 d postpartum was detected (warm vs. cool = 0.18; 95% CI = 0.10 to 0.33).

Evaluation of rectal temperature in diagnosis of puerperal metritis in dairy cows

“…Daily average temperatures of 38.9°C or higher were found in cows with purulent lochia only on Day 4, while these temperatures persisted from Day 1 to Day 7 post partum in cows with putrid lochia. These findings verify the results of Kristula et al (2001) and Benzaquen et al (2004), which showed the highest occurrence of fever in cows with puerperal metritis between Day 3 and 6 post partum.…”

“…Relationships among dystocia, metritis and fever in postpartum dairy cows have been described by Kristula et al (2001) and Benzaquen et al (2004).…”

“…Also Benzaquen et al (2004) found, on the basis of post partum monitoring of daily rectal temperatures, that over half of the cows with metritis did not show any fever during the first week post partum. Similarly, Sheldon et al (2004Sheldon et al ( , 2006 stated that pyrexia is not consistently associated with puerperal metritis even though it correlates with the presence of uterine pathogens and the fact that febrile animals have higher concentrations of acute phase protein.…”

“…Recently, measurement of body temperature has been considered a useful method in systemic diagnosis of metritis in early postpartum cows as the disease is often accompanied by fever (Kristula et al, 2001;Zhou et al, 2001;Overton et al, 2003;Benzaquen et al, 2004;Chenault et al, 2004). In spite of introducing body temperature measurement to the monitoring system in dairy herds, there is lack of data proving the contribution of temperature measurement to the diagnosis of puerperal metritis.…”

Genetic parameters for producer-recorded health data in Canadian Holstein cattle

“…There was a moderate-to-high positive genetic correlation between MET and RP. The longer period during which the birth canal is open in case of RP, leaves the uterus exposed to infection and therefore to MET (Benzaquen et al, 2007). Other studies found similar magnitude of correlation between these traits (Lin et al, 1989;Heringstad, 2010;Koeck et al, 2010).…”