Publication
Pain reduction in dairy goat kids'disbudding
| Summary: | Cautery disbudding is a routinely done practice in intensive dairy goat farms as hornless animals are easier to handle, cause less damage and have lower space requirements. It is usually carried out within the kids’ first two weeks of life and, in spite of being extremely painful, no anaesthesia or analgesia is generally used. With this work we aimed to assess the efficacy of ketamine, either when used alone or in combination with an NSAID, in reducing pain related behaviours in disbudded kids. The effect of an anaesthetic and antiseptic gel effect on preventing immediate wound inflammation and infection after the procedure was also evaluated. The behavioural response to ketamine at three different dosages was observed and registered for 1 h. 10mg/kg was considered to be the safest dose after a higher one resulting in a prolonged anaesthetic period and lethargic kids afterwards. Nine healthy goat kids were randomly allocated to one of three treatment groups: K – given ketamine; K+M – given ketamine and meloxicam; S – sham disbudded after being given ketamine. Ketamine was administered intramuscularly to all kids and meloxicam (0.5 mg/kg) subcutaneously to K+M, 2 to 5 minutes and 5 minutes prior to disbudding, respectively. Vocalizations, tail flicking and leg movements were registered during disbudding. After the procedure, the frequency of pain-related behaviours was recorded for 3 h based on a previously developed ethogram. Sixteen healthy goat kids were randomly assigned to one of two groups after disbudding: D – application of an antibacterial spray on each cauterized horn bud site; TS – application of an anaesthetic and antiseptic gel. The same behaviours of the previous trial were registered for 3 h with D group results also being compared with K, K+M and S ones in the statistical analysis. Three days after the procedure, TS and D kids wounds were evaluated based on a 3-point healing scale. K and K+M kids showed a lower frequency of leg movements during disbudding. Following the procedure, K kids had a higher frequency (p<0.05) of head shaking and head scratching than other groups in the second half-hour and of body shaking in the third hour. No significant differences were found between TS and D groups on wound infection but the use of the gel in detriment of the antibacterial spray may be beneficial in preventing antimicrobial resistance. The use of ketamine either alone or in combination showed to be unsafe, unpractical and not cost-effective in spite of having some effect in reducing pain-related behaviours during disbudding. |
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| Main Authors: | Santos, Maria Sara Martins Vicente Pratas dos |
| Subject: | Cautery disbudding goat kids pain reduction ketamine descorna por termocautério cabritos redução de dor quetamina |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Country: | Portugal |
| Document type: | master thesis |
| Access type: | open access |
| Associated institution: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Language: | English |
| Origin: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Summary: | Cautery disbudding is a routinely done practice in intensive dairy goat farms as hornless animals are easier to handle, cause less damage and have lower space requirements. It is usually carried out within the kids’ first two weeks of life and, in spite of being extremely painful, no anaesthesia or analgesia is generally used. With this work we aimed to assess the efficacy of ketamine, either when used alone or in combination with an NSAID, in reducing pain related behaviours in disbudded kids. The effect of an anaesthetic and antiseptic gel effect on preventing immediate wound inflammation and infection after the procedure was also evaluated. The behavioural response to ketamine at three different dosages was observed and registered for 1 h. 10mg/kg was considered to be the safest dose after a higher one resulting in a prolonged anaesthetic period and lethargic kids afterwards. Nine healthy goat kids were randomly allocated to one of three treatment groups: K – given ketamine; K+M – given ketamine and meloxicam; S – sham disbudded after being given ketamine. Ketamine was administered intramuscularly to all kids and meloxicam (0.5 mg/kg) subcutaneously to K+M, 2 to 5 minutes and 5 minutes prior to disbudding, respectively. Vocalizations, tail flicking and leg movements were registered during disbudding. After the procedure, the frequency of pain-related behaviours was recorded for 3 h based on a previously developed ethogram. Sixteen healthy goat kids were randomly assigned to one of two groups after disbudding: D – application of an antibacterial spray on each cauterized horn bud site; TS – application of an anaesthetic and antiseptic gel. The same behaviours of the previous trial were registered for 3 h with D group results also being compared with K, K+M and S ones in the statistical analysis. Three days after the procedure, TS and D kids wounds were evaluated based on a 3-point healing scale. K and K+M kids showed a lower frequency of leg movements during disbudding. Following the procedure, K kids had a higher frequency (p<0.05) of head shaking and head scratching than other groups in the second half-hour and of body shaking in the third hour. No significant differences were found between TS and D groups on wound infection but the use of the gel in detriment of the antibacterial spray may be beneficial in preventing antimicrobial resistance. The use of ketamine either alone or in combination showed to be unsafe, unpractical and not cost-effective in spite of having some effect in reducing pain-related behaviours during disbudding. |
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