Abstract
Simple SummaryThere are several conditions and diseases considered painful to cattle. One reason for the inconsistency in pain recognition and thus pain relief in cattle is the inadequate ability to identify and assess pain. In fact, both increased and/or reduced daily lying time can be indicative of pain in cattle. This review helps to properly interpret pain in cows through behavioural activity patterns and explores whether pain relief is capable to restore their normal activity.The main conditions and diseases considered painful in dairy cows are mastitis, lameness, calving (including dystocia and caesarean section) and metritis. The cattle literature reports that deviation from normal daily activity patterns (both increased and/or reduced daily lying time) can be indicative of painful conditions and diseases in cows. This narrative review discusses on how pain due to several health conditions in dairy cows modifies its activity pattern and explores if non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are capable of restoring it. Divergent outcomes may differ depending upon the painful cause, the severity and the moment, and consequently its interpretation should be properly explained. For instance, cows with clinical mastitis reduced their time lying and increased the number of lying bouts and stepping due to pain caused by the swollen udder when cows are lying. However, lame cows show longer lying times, with a lower number of lying bouts and longer and more variable lying bouts duration, as compared to non-lame cows. When the relationship between painful disorders and daily activity patterns is studied, factors such as parity, bedding type and severity of disease are important factors to take into consideration. The potential benefits of the NSAIDs treatment in painful health disorders depend upon the type of drug administered, its dosage and administration mode, and the time of administration relative to the painful health disorder. This narrative review can be used as a tool to properly interpret and grade pain in cows through behavioural activity patterns and proposes directions for future investigations.
Highlights
Recent reviews have focused on the assessment and alleviation of pain in management procedures in cattle, such as castration and/or dehorning [1,2,3]
Additional research including the effect of other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) on experimentally induced mastitis on lying time should include a closer administration before or after challenge and/or a repeated dose administration
Concluding Remarks and Potential Further Research. This narrative review shows that pain due to several health conditions in dairy cows can modify daily activity patterns, depending upon the cause, the severity and the moment
Summary
Recent reviews have focused on the assessment and alleviation of pain in management procedures in cattle, such as castration and/or dehorning [1,2,3]. Other reviews focused on the assessment and management of pain associated with calving [4], lameness [5] and/or surgical pain in cattle [6]. Lying time and its association with welfare in cows has recently been reviewed [9]. Several studies that focused on health conditions used activity patterns (especially lying time) as a pain indicator, its outcome interpretation has not been previously reviewed. This narrative review discusses how pain due to several health conditions in dairy cows modifies their activity patterns and explore whether non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are capable of restoring it. NSAIDs including meloxicam, flunixin meglumine, ketoprofen, carprofen and acetylsalicylic acid were considered
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