Ethological and pathophysiolocal justification of the calcium gluconate usage for the treatment of calves with bronchopneumonia

Abstract

A prominent feature of the pathogenesis of bronchopneumonia in calves is the development of an inflammatory reaction that negatively affects the structure (consolidation) and function of lung tissue. Due to the spread of the inflammatory reaction, structural and functional changes can become irreversible. The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of calcium gluconate and the nonsteroidal anti–inflammatory drug ketoprofen in the treatment of calves with bronchopneumonia. The research was conducted on the basis of a dairy farm with an average annual yield of 8,500 kg of milk per cow and a scientific laboratory of the Department of Normal and Pathological Physiology of Animals of Bilotserkivsky Bila Tserkva National University. Sick animals aged 3–4.5 months were divided into two groups, control (16 heads) and experimental (12 heads). All sick calves were prescribed antibiotic therapy using the preparation Clamoxan (BioTestLab). Calves of the control group were additionally prescribed the non–steroidal anti–inflammatory drug Kefen (Merial, France), and calcium gluconate (UkrZooVet–organisation ) was prescribed to the calves of the experimental group. The course of bronchopneumonia in calves is characterized by the development of characteristic clinical signs (depressed general condition, tachypnea, tachycardia, cough, secretion of mucus from the nasal passages), minor leukocytosis (13.38±0.46) and signs of dehydration, which is evidenced by relatively high indicators of hematocrit (45.47±2.18%) and total protein (61.14±2.22 g/l). The dynamics of clinical and laboratory indicators were similar in sick calves of both groups. The pathogenetic effect and anti–inflammatory activity are equally effective in both studied drugs: caffeine and calcium gluconate. In calves with bronchopneumonia, a 3–10–fold delay in the conditioned feeding reflex was established. The normalization of clinical and laboratory indicators was accompanied by the restoration of the duration of the implementation of the conditioned feeding reflex, which allows recommending the use of the studied ethological indicators for monitoring the course of bronchopneumonia in calves. We consider the study of the effectiveness of calcium gluconate preparations in other inflammatory pathologies in animals and the extension of indications to the use of ethological indicators to monitor the course of diseases in domestic animals to be a promising direction for further research. Key words: calves, bronchopneumonia, treatment, calcium gluconate, behavior.