HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Interpretive Summary Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Flower, F. C. Articles by Weary, D. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Flower, F. C. Articles by Weary, D. M.

Analgesics Improve the Gait of Lame Dairy Cattle

F. C. Flower^*, M. Sedlbauer^*, E. Carter^*, M. A. G. von Keyserlingk^*, D. J. Sanderson and D. M. Weary^*,1

^* Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Food and Land Systems, and
School of Human Kinetics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, V6T 1Z4

¹ Corresponding author: danweary{at}interchange.ubc.ca

Pain associated with injuries of the hoof and surrounding tissues is an important cause of lameness. The objective was to detect the attributes of impaired gait that are associated with pain. In 3 separate experiments, lactating Holstein cows (n = 20; n = 21; n = 27) diagnosed with varying degrees of gait impairment were injected i.m. (Exp. 1 and 2) or i.v. (Exp. 3) with the analgesic ketoprofen at 0, 0.3, 1.5, or 3.0 mg/kg of BW. Gait was evaluated subjectively using a numerical rating system (NRS; varying from 1 to 5) and 6 specific gait attributes (back arch, tracking up, joint flexion, asymmetric steps, head bob, and reluctance to bear weight). Each experiment was divided into 3 phases each lasting 3 d: before treatment, after treatment, and during treatment with daily injections of ketoprofen. The NRS improved by 0.25 ± 0.05 with the highest dose of ketoprofen. Although none of the specific gait attributes showed a consistent response to treatment, there was an interaction between dose and experiment for asymmetric steps and reluctance to bear weight; in Exp. 1, but not Exp. 2 and 3, cow steps were more symmetrical (improving by 7.16 ± 1.02), and cows distributed their weight more evenly (improving by 5.84 ± 1.13) at the highest doses of ketoprofen. These results indicated that the NRS was more sensitive than the specific gait attributes in assessing differences in gait associated with pain. The results showed that ketoprofen has only a modest effect on gait, indicating either that this drug has little effect on pain due to lameness or that much variation in NRS was due to factors other than pain.

Key Words: dairy cattle • lameness • pain • nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. M. Weary, J. M. Huzzey, and M. A. G. von Keyserlingk BOARD-INVITED REVIEW: Using behavior to predict and identify ill health in animals J Anim Sci, February 1, 2009; 87(2): 770 - 777. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]