Open AccessRandomized Clinical Trial of Long‐Acting Oxytetracycline, Foot Trimming, and Flunixine Meglumine on Time to Recovery in Sheep with Footrot
Author(s) -
Kaler J.,
Daniels S.L.S.,
Wright J.L.,
Green L.E.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of veterinary internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.356
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1939-1676
pISSN - 0891-6640
DOI - 10.1111/j.1939-1676.2009.0450.x
Subject(s) - lameness , medicine , foot (prosody) , randomized controlled trial , oxytetracycline , foot rot , antibiotics , surgery , veterinary medicine , linguistics , philosophy , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Background: Internationally, foot trimming is used by most farmers, and parenteral antibacterials by some, to treat sheep with footrot. Nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are sometimes used. No clinical trials have compared these treatments. Objectives: To investigate the above treatments on time to recovery from lameness and foot lesions in sheep with footrot. Animals: Fifty‐three sheep with footrot on a commercial farm in England. Methods: In a randomized factorial design, the sheep were allocated to 6 treatment groups. The treatments were oxytetracycline spray to all sheep (positive control) and one or more of parenteral administration of long‐acting oxytetracycline, flunixine meglumine, and foot trimming on day 1 or 6 of diagnosis. Follow‐up was for 15 days. Time to recovery from lameness and lesions was investigated with discrete‐time survival models. Results: There was significant association ( P < .05) between recovery from lameness and lesions. Sheep receiving antibacterials parenterally recovered faster from lameness (odds ratio [OR]: 4.92 [1.20–20.10]) and lesions (OR: 5.11 [1.16–22.4]) than positive controls, whereas sheep foot trimmed on day 1 (lameness—OR: 0.05 [0.005–0.51]; lesions—OR: 0.06 [0.008–0.45]) or day 6 of diagnosis (lameness—OR: 0.07 [0.01–0.72]; lesions—OR: 0.07 [0.01–0.56]) recovered more slowly than positive controls. NSAID had no significant effect on recovery. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: If foot trimming on day 1 or 6 of diagnosis was stopped and parenteral antibacterials were used, then over 1 million sheep/annum lame with footrot in the United Kingdom would recover more rapidly with benefits to productivity. Globally, this figure would be much higher.