Acute and chronic pain in calves after different methods of rubber-ring castration

Becker, Johanna; Doherr, Marcus G.; Bruckmaier, Rupert M.; Bodmer, Michèle; Zanolari, Patrik; Steiner, Adrian

doi:10.1016/j.tvjl.2012.04.022

Cited by 25 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…With this design, it is not possible to test whether behavioural changes following the husbandry procedures would also have been seen following sham treatment. However, ear tagging of both sexes and castration of males resulted in increased expression of specific behaviours previously found to be elevated after rubber ring castration and ear tagging but not in response to sham treatment (e.g., [15,18,21]) suggesting that the calves did show behavioural responses that were specifically indicative of pain. Several of these behaviours have been shown to be mitigated by pain relief [22,23].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

The Effect of Behavioural Indicators of Calf Discomfort Following Routine Procedures on Cow Maternal Care

Turner

McIlvaney

Donbavand

et al. 2020

Animals

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Pain causes altered arousal and specific behaviours that are rare at other times (pain indicators). We examined whether beef cows (mean age 6 years) are sensitive to pain indicators in addition to arousal following ear tagging and rubber ring castration (males only, n = 31) of their calf (n = 58). Behavioural pain indicators and activity were recorded continuously for 20 min before and 2 h after handling. The 30 min period posthandling captured the peak of behavioural change during this window. Cow maternal and maintenance behaviours were recorded for 20 min before and for 30 min after calf handling. Principal component (PC) analysis identified two dimensions (48% of the variance) in calf behaviour. Arousal and two active pain indicators loaded onto PC1 were shown by linear mixed models to positively affect some maternal behaviours. Lethargy, passive pain indicators and further active pain indicators loaded onto PC2 did not affect cow behaviour. Castration did not result in male calves receiving more maternal attention. Cows alter maternal behaviour in response to calf activity but not behaviours previously shown to indicate pain. Maternal care peaks soon after calving, but recent calving stress or the subtlety of neonatal behavioural expression may constrain cows in responding to the individual behavioural expression of their calf. Future studies exploring empathy should be aware of the constraints on behavioural expression associated with the neonatal and periparturient period.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

The Effect of Behavioural Indicators of Calf Discomfort Following Routine Procedures on Cow Maternal Care

Turner

McIlvaney

Donbavand

et al. 2020

Animals

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“…Dysregulation of RAS genes has been associated with ERMS 31. Elevated expression of MET has also been associated with more advanced disease 32,33. Recent studies have also demonstrated that elevated messenger RNA levels, and protein expression of ALK have been associated with ARMS and worse clinical outcome 34,35.…”

Section: Rms Pathology and Tumor Biologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rhabdomyosarcoma in adolescent and young adult patients: current perspectives

Egas-Bejar¹,

Huh²

2014

AHMT

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Rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a malignant tumor of mesenchymal origin, is the third most common extracranial malignant solid tumor in children and adolescents. However, in adults, RMS represents <1% of all solid tumor malignancies. The embryonal and alveolar histologic variants are more commonly seen in pediatric patients, while the pleomorphic variant is rare in children and seen more often in adults. Advances in the research of the embryonal and alveolar variants have improved our understanding of certain genes and biologic pathways that are involved in RMS, but much less is known for the other variants. Multimodality therapy that includes surgery and chemotherapy with or without radiation therapy is the mainstay of treatment for RMS. Improvements in the risk stratification of the pediatric patients based on presurgical (primary tumor site, tumor size, regional lymph node involvement, presence of metastasis) and postsurgical parameters (completeness of resection or presence of residual disease or metastasis) has allowed for the treatment assignment of patients in different studies and therapeutic trials, leading to increases in 5-year survival from 25%–70% over the past 40 years. However, for adult patients, in great part due to rarity of the disease and the lack of consensus on optimal treatment, clinical outcome is still poor. Many factors have been implicated for the differing outcomes between pediatric RMS versus adult RMS, such as the lack of standardized treatment protocols for adult RMS patients and the increased prevalence of advanced presentations. Now that there are increased numbers of survivors, we can appreciate the sequelae from therapy in these patients, such as bone growth abnormalities, endocrinopathies, and infertility. Improvements in risk stratification have led to clinical trials using lower doses of chemotherapy or radiation therapy with the intention of decreasing the incidence of side effects without compromising survival outcome.

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“…The application of rubber rings is perceived to be "a simple, inexpensive and effective method of castration" (Becker et al, 2012) and, as a consequence, the method is, at least in Australia, increasingly being used. Furthermore, manufacturers and retailers promote rings as being the least stressful method of castration (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Welfare outcomes for 3- and 6-month-old beef calves in a tropical environment castrated surgically or by applying rubber rings

Petherick

Small

Reid³

et al. 2015

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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a b s t r a c tCastration of cattle using rubber rings is becoming increasingly popular due to the perceived ease of the procedure and greater operator safety when compared with surgical castration. Few comparative studies have investigated the effects of different castration methods and calf age on welfare outcomes, particularly in a tropical environment. Thirty Belmont Red (a tropically adapted breed), 3-month-old (liveweight 71-119 kg) and 30, 6-month-old (liveweight 141-189 kg) calves were assigned to a two age × three castration (surgical, ring and sham) treatment factorial study (Surg3, Surg6, Ring3, Ring6, Sham3 and Sham6, n = 10 for each treatment group). Welfare outcomes were assessed post-castration using: behaviour for 2 weeks; blood parameters (cortisol and haptoglobin concentrations) to 4 weeks; wound healing to 5 weeks; and liveweights to 6 weeks. More Surg calves struggled during castration compared with Sham and Ring (P < 0.05, 90 ± 7% vs. 20 ± 9% and 24 ± 10%) and performed more struggles (1.9 ± 0.2, 1.1 ± 0.3 and 1.1 ± 0.3 for Surg, Sham and Ring, respectively), suggesting that surgical castration caused most pain during performance of the procedure. A significant (P < 0.05) time × castration method × age interaction for plasma cortisol revealed that concentrations decreased most rapidly in Sham; the Ring6 calves failed to show reduced cortisol concentrations at 2 h post-castration, unlike other treatment groups. By 7 h post-castration, all treatment groups had similar concentrations. A significant (P < 0.01) interaction between time and castration method showed that haptoglobin concentrations increased slightly to 0.89 and 0.84 mg/mL for Surg and Ring, respectively over the first 3 days post-castration. Concentrations for Surg then decreased to levels similar to Sham by day 21 and, although concentrations for Ring decreased on day 7 to 0.76 mg/mL, they increased significantly on day 14 to 0.97 mg/mL before reducing to concentrations similar to the other groups (0.66 mg/mL) by day 21. Significantly (P < 0.05) more of the wounds of the 3-month compared with the 6-month calves scored as 'healed' at day 7 (74% vs. 39%), while more (P = 0.062) of the Surg than Ring scored as 'healed' at day 21 (60% vs. 29%). At day 14 there were significantly (P < 0.05) fewer healed wounds in Ring6 compared with other treatment groups (13% vs. 40-60%). Liveweight gain was significantly (P < 0.05) greater in 3-month (0.53 kg/day) than in 6-month calves (0.44 kg/day) and in Sham calves (P < 0.001, 0.54 kg/day), than in Ring (0.44 kg/day) and Surg (0.48 kg/day) calves. Overall, welfare outcomes were slightly better for Surg than Ring calves due to reduced inflammation and faster wound healing, with little difference between age groups. Crown

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Acute and chronic pain in calves after different methods of rubber-ring castration

Cited by 25 publications

References 14 publications

The Effect of Behavioural Indicators of Calf Discomfort Following Routine Procedures on Cow Maternal Care

The Effect of Behavioural Indicators of Calf Discomfort Following Routine Procedures on Cow Maternal Care

Rhabdomyosarcoma in adolescent and young adult patients: current perspectives

Welfare outcomes for 3- and 6-month-old beef calves in a tropical environment castrated surgically or by applying rubber rings

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