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Letters |
1 Clinic for Cattle, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation Bischofsholer Damm 15, D-30173 Hannover, Germany
Dr Starke and colleagues comment: We agree that the description of the performed local anaesthesia is unclear. Unfortunately, the term `regional anaesthesia' was omitted from the revised manuscript. We performed regional intravenous anaesthesia according to Antalovsky (1965). Fifteen ml of procaine hydrochloride (Procasel 2 per cent; Selectavet) was injected intravenously (dorsal digital vein) distal to a tourniquet that was placed around the metacarpus. Without the tourniquet the intravenous injected local anaesthetic would not have had the necessary local analgesic effect. Moreover, the tourniquet has the positive effect of reducing bleeding during the surgical procedure.
According to our clinical experience on about 1000 lame patients treated on a tilt table per year, regional intravenous local anaesthesia as described above is adequate for surgery on the foot in cattle, without the necessity of using sedatives. Restraining cattle in lateral recumbency on a tilt table is a routine procedure that is tolerated well by the animals even without sedation (Pesenhofer and others 2006). Most surgical treatments on claws in cattle take less time than the sedative effect of xylazine lasts. The animals may encounter ataxia due to the sedatives while getting up from the tilt table, which can considerably hamper the handling of animals or may even lead to injuries. Furthermore, alpha2-agonists develop undesirable side effects such as cardio respiratory depression, uterine contractions (risk of abortion in pregnant cows) or ruminal bloat, apparently especially during recumbency (Wagner and others 1990). Therefore, the authors consider the use of sedatives for cattle treated on a tilt table as non-essential. This is of course different in uncooperative animals.
Immediately after surgery (day 1) and on day 3 the cattle in the article received the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) flunixin meglumine (Finadyne RP; Essex Tierarznei) at 2·2 mg/kg bodyweight, subcutaneously. Meanwhile, we used NSAIDs in accordance with the preoperative comments since the preoperative administration of analgesics seems to be more effective. However, more research is necessary in order to demonstrate the beneficial effects of administration of antiphlogistics in the orthopaedic treatment of cattle. On the other hand, the risk of abomasal ulceration due to long-standing treatment with NSAIDs needs to be investigated. Due to a lack of clinical studies on this issue it is difficult to balance these risks.
We are glad that our manuscript helped to initiate a discussion on these topics.
PESENHOFER, G., PALME, R., PESENHOFER, R. M. & KOFLER, J. (2006) Comparison of two methods of fixation during functional claw trimming - walk-in crush versus tilt table - in dairy cows using faecal cortisol metabolite concentrations and daily milk yield as parameters. Wiener Tierärztliche Monatsschrift 93, 288-294
WAGNER, A. E., MUIR, W. W. & GROSPITCH, B. J. (1990) Cardiopulmonary effects of position in conscious cattle. American Journal of Veterinary Research 51, 7-10[Medline]
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