Effects of local anesthesia and flunixin meglumine on the acute cortisol response, behavior, and performance of young dairy calves undergoing surgical castration

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of flunixin meglumine (FM) and a local anesthetic block (LA) on postcastration performance, plasma cortisol concentration, and behavior in dairy calves. Thirty 2- to 3-mo-old Holstein-Friesian bull calves were allocated to 5 treatments: castration with LA (2% lidocaine injected into the testes and subcutaneously), castration with FM (1.1mg/kg, i.v.), castration with LA+FM, castration without drugs (CC), and sham castration (SC). Castration was performed using a Newberry knife and Henderson castrating tool. Feed intake and body weight gain were recorded for 10d postcastration. Plasma cortisol concentration and behavior frequency and duration were monitored for 8h postcastration. Variables with repeated measures were analyzed using PROC MIXED (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC); one-way ANOVA was used for nonrepeated measures. No differences in feed intake or body weight gain were detected among groups. Calves in the CC, LA, and FM groups had transient (<60, <60, and <45 min, respectively) increases in plasma cortisol concentration after castration, with a second increase at 120 min in the LA group, whereas cortisol concentration remained at baseline in the LA+FM and SC groups. Mean cortisol concentrations were lower for calves in the LA+FM and SC groups than in the CC group. The area under the plasma cortisol concentration curve during the first 3h postcastration was greater in CC- and LA-treated calves than in SC controls. Castration without drugs was associated with higher frequencies of crouching and statue standing and less oral activity compared with SC controls. Administering LA alone before castration was associated with higher frequencies of head turning, statue standing, and postural changes, and less feeding behavior compared with SC controls. More leg lifting to groom was seen in LA+FM-treated calves than in SC controls. Calves administered FM alone before castration exhibited less crouching than CC calves, fewer postural shifts, and more feeding behavior than LA-treated calves. In summary, FM alone tended to shorten the duration of cortisol response and reduce crouching after surgical castration. Combining LA+FM eliminated the cortisol response to castration but was associated with more leg lifting behavior. Treatment with LA alone did not mitigate the cortisol response and was associated with several behavioral differences compared with SC, FM-treated, or FM+LA-treated calves. Results suggest that LA alone did not effectively control discomfort in young dairy calves castrated using the Henderson castration tool.

Effect of a single dose of subcutaneous meloxicam before knife castration alone or combined with hot-iron branding on scrotal healing, inflammatory response, and behaviour in 2-mo-old beef calves over 42 d post procedure

“…These results are in agreement with previous studies reporting that castration and other painful procedures are known to reduce ADG which has been attributed to inappetence related to pain (Fisher et al 1996;Earley and Crowe 2002;Weary et al 2006), as well as suppression of androgens after castration (Steen and Kilpatrick 1995). However, other authors did not observe a reduction in ADG after castration (Fell et al 1986;Pieler et al 2013;Webster et al 2013). According to the quadratic relationship between reduction of gain and castration age described by Bretschneider (2005), calves castrated at 2 mo of age and weighed 42 d post castration should lose approximately 4 kg of BW.…”

“…No effect (P > 0.10) of medication or treatment × medication was observed on performance data (Table 1). We hypothesized that because meloxicam has a longer half-life compared with other NSAIDs (ketoprofen or flunixin meglumine) (Stock and Coetzee 2015), it may attenuate the detrimental effects of castration on performance that other NSAIDs failed to prevent (Ting et al 2003a(Ting et al , 2003bWebster et al 2013;Pang et al 2006Pang et al , 2008Petherick et al 2014). However, results from the present Table 1.…”

Validation of the UNESP-Botucatu unidimensional composite pain scale for assessing postoperative pain in cattle

“…The reduced time spent eating observed in our study is consistent with other findings in the literature that report reductions in grazing time [29,50], eating frequency [49,50,52] and, in the case of calves, suckling time [26]. The benefit of rescue analgesia with respect to this behaviour was also evident from the fact that the time spent feeding increased after rescue analgesia was performed.…”

“…These behaviours include remaining idle for longer periods, assuming an abnormal standing posture [26,49] and exhibiting gait changes involving shorter, more cautious steps [32,33]. With respect to time spent lying down, the results reported in the literature vary according to whether xylazine and analgesics were used.…”

Decision making in large animal surgery

“…It is always challenging to perform systematic reviews in veterinary medicine due to the limited published data available. Flunixin combined with a local anaesthetic appears to reduce signs of pain in calves following surgical castration compared to local anaesthetic alone; this conclusion was based on two papers (Currah and others 2009, Webster and others 2013). However, there was insufficient evidence to evaluate whether ketoprofen administration in addition to local anaesthetic versus local anaesthetic alone in calves undergoing burdizzo castration was more beneficial regarding recovery and performance (Downes and Brennan 2015).…”