Identifying Barriers to Implementing Pain Management for Piglet Castration: A Focus Group of Swine Veterinarians

Wagner, B.K.; Royal, Kenneth D.; Park, Rachel; Pairis‐Garcia, Monique D.

doi:10.3390/ani10071202

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…In a 2017 report by Moggy et al [ 69 ], a robust majority of surveyed cattle producers either ‘Strongly agreed’ or ‘Somewhat agreed’ that castration (70%) and disbudding (85%) procedures are painful. However, this and similar works also identified medication cost as a substantial barrier to producers providing pain management on-farm [ 7 , 69 ] and this challenge persists across livestock production industries [ 70 ]. Despite its practicality, the pharmacokinetic properties of aspirin also remain underreported and not well characterized in cattle.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: Pharmacokinetics and Mitigation of Procedural-Pain in Cattle

Wagner

Nixon

Robles

et al. 2021

Animals

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Common routine management practices in cattle, such as castration and disbudding, are recognized as being painful. In the United States (U.S.), these procedures are frequently performed without pain mitigation and there are currently no drugs federally approved for such use. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as meloxicam, flunixin meglumine and aspirin, are the most commonly used analgesics in U.S. food-animal production systems. However, the body of research investigating the effectiveness of these pharmaceuticals to control pain in cattle at castration and disbudding has not been comprehensively evaluated. Therefore, this review examined existing literature to summarize meloxicam, flunixin and aspirin (1) pharmacokinetics (PK) and (2) administration outcome in regard to pain control during castration and disbudding procedures, in cattle. Following systematic searches and screening, 47 PK and 44 publications were extracted for data and are presented. The sample size contained notable variability and a general deficiency of validated and replicated methodologies for assessing pain in cattle remain substantial challenges within this research area. Future research should prioritize replication of pain assessment methodologies across different experimental conditions to close knowledge gaps identified by the present study and facilitate examination of analgesic efficacy.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: Pharmacokinetics and Mitigation of Procedural-Pain in Cattle

Wagner

Nixon

Robles

et al. 2021

Animals

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“…Nevertheless, changes to analgesic use by veterinarians may not result in large scale actionable changes in pain management on-farm [ 34 ] given only 32.2% of producers have increased analgesic use over the past ten years. Although veterinarians are viewed by producers as valuable resources in regards to animal health and welfare, the producer most often performs daily decision-making specific to animal care and treatment [ 35 ]. Therefore, the willingness of the producer to implement pain management protocols will likely have a greater impact on individual animal welfare.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This issue is not unique to cattle veterinarians in the US alone. Wagner and colleagues [ 35 ] conducted a similar study assessing the perspective of swine veterinarians on implementing pain management for piglets and identified that the lack of approved products validated for efficacy is one of the main concerns to implementing pain management on swine farms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Producer and Veterinarian Perspectives towards Pain Management Practices in the US Cattle Industry

Robles

Arruda

Nixon

et al. 2021

Animals

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Producers and veterinarians are considered responsible for improving animal welfare, as they are responsible for implementing practices that directly impact the animal’s well-being. Most husbandry procedures performed in cattle do not include pain mitigation, and understanding challenges faced by these stakeholders to use analgesics is key in improving on-farm pain management strategies. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to explore producer and veterinarian perspectives on pain management practices by (1) exploring inquires received by Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank (FARAD) regarding analgesic use in cattle and (2) using a survey instrument to identify factors that impact pain management implementation in the US cattle industry. Albeit analgesia use increased in the past ten years for some producers and the majority of veterinarians, administering analgesics for pain management on US cattle farms remains a challenge. From a producer perspective, drug cost, availability and logistics for administration. From a veterinarian perspective, lack of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) products hinders the support of on-farm protocols requiring extra-label drug use. Future steps to improve analgesic use on-farm include identifying and approving drugs that demonstrate efficacy for managing pain in cattle and disseminating educational resources to support stakeholders in both the implementation and drug withdrawal process.

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“…However, no current studies to date have assessed actual implementation of pain relief on-farm, and older studies dating back to 2016 noted only 5% of male piglets in some European countries are castrated with pain relief [ 12 ]. Currently, the US has no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug specifically labelled for pain management in swine if veterinarians were mandated to provide pain control [ 1 , 13 ]. In order to obtain FDA approval for the use of pain relief in pigs, a product must first demonstrate efficacy as supported through clinically validated end-points [ 1 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of the Unesp-Botucatu pig composite acute pain scale (UPAPS) in piglets undergoing castration

et al. 2023

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To accurately assess pain and support broadly-based analgesic protocols to mitigate swine pain, it is imperative to develop and validate a species-specific pain scale. The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical validity and reliability of an acute pain scale (UPAPS) adapted for newborn piglets undergoing castration. Thirty-nine male piglets (five days of age, 1.62 ± 0.23 kg BW) served as their own control, were enrolled in the study and underwent castration in conjunction with an injectable analgesic administered one-hour post-castration (flunixin meglumine 2.2 mg/kg IM). An additional 10, non-painful female piglets were included to account for the effect of natural behavioral variation by day on pain scale results. Behavior of each piglet was video recorded continuously at four recording periods (24 h pre-castration, 15 min post-castration, 3 and 24 h post-castration). Pre- and post-operative pain was assessed by using a 4-point scale (score 0–3) including the following six behavioral items: posture, interaction and interest in surroundings, activity, attention to the affected area, nursing, and miscellaneous behavior. Behavior was assessed by two trained blinded observers and statistical analysis was performed using R software. Inter-observer agreement was very good (ICC = 0.81). The scale was unidimensional based on the principal component analysis, all items except for nursing were representative (rs ≥ 0.74) and had excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha ≥ 0.85). The sum of scores were higher in castrated piglets post-procedure compared to pre-procedure, and higher than in non-painful female piglets confirming responsiveness and construct validity, respectively. Scale sensitivity was good when piglets were awake (92.9%) and specificity was moderate (78.6%). The scale had excellent discriminatory ability (area under the curve > 0.92) and the optimal cut-off sum for analgesia was 4 out of 15. The UPAPS scale is a valid and reliable clinical tool to assess acute pain in castrated pre-weaned piglets.

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Identifying Barriers to Implementing Pain Management for Piglet Castration: A Focus Group of Swine Veterinarians

Cited by 13 publications

References 34 publications

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: Pharmacokinetics and Mitigation of Procedural-Pain in Cattle

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs: Pharmacokinetics and Mitigation of Procedural-Pain in Cattle

Producer and Veterinarian Perspectives towards Pain Management Practices in the US Cattle Industry

Validation of the Unesp-Botucatu pig composite acute pain scale (UPAPS) in piglets undergoing castration

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