Routine use of anti-inflammatories…
This article refers to non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) such as Flunixin, Ketomax, Meloxivet, Metacam and Rimadyl LA.
NSAID products are pain-killers – the animal formulations are akin to human medications Neurofen and Voltaren. NSAIDs also help to reduce tissue damage caused by swelling and inflammation and moderate the immune response. They may enable better penetration of antibiotics to a site of infection.
When we suffer a painful condition, we routinely reach for pain-killers. It is only on rare occasions that we would take antibiotics, and when we do it is usually in conjunction with pain-killers. Likewise, an NSAID should be the first thing we reach for when treating any painful condition in cows. If there is infection present (mastitis for example) then it would be appropriate to also treat a cow with antibiotics.
As seen in the diagram below, there are very few instances where antibiotics should be used without including NSAID treatment. They are prophylactic treatments (e.g. blanket DCT) and treatment of subclinical infections (DCT and Metricure).
The routine use of NSAIDs is essential to achieving a high standard of animal welfare. While animal welfare on its own has enough merit to warrant the routine use of NSAIDs, there is actually a strong economic case to be made. This is due to the improvement in cure rates, survival and reproductive outcomes when NSAIDs are included in routine treatment protocols.
There have been several studies investigating the benefits of routine use of meloxicam (Metacam or Meloxivet) in clinical mastitis. Compared to using antibiotics alone, the addition of meloxicam has been found to improve cure rates (66% v. 50%), improve conception rate to first service (31% v. 21%) and improve pregnancy rate at 120 days calved (40% v. 31%)1. A 700 cow New Zealand study found that including a dose of meloxicam on day 1 of treatment of mild clinical mastitis resulted in lower SCC and reduced the chance of being culled before the following season from 28% to 16%!2 It is quite likely that there are further productivity and health benefits yet to be discovered and measured.
Below is a table of NSAIDs currently available through The Dairy Vet. The first thing to note is duration of action. A single dose of Meloxivet, Metacam or Rimdayl LA on day one of treatment will generally be sufficient for most cases.
The Dairy Vet team recommends using NSAIDs routinely for all painful condition. We generally use long-acting products in most situations. Give us a call to discuss which products would suit your needs and for advice on implementing effective treatment protocols.
References:
1. McDougall S et al. Addition of meloxicam to the treatment of clinical mastitis improves subsequent reproductive performance. J Dairy Sci. 2016 Mar;99(3):2026-2042. doi: 10.3168/jds.2015-9615. Epub 2016 Jan 6. PMID: 26778316.
2. McDougall S et al. Effect of treatment with the nonsteroidal antiinflammatory meloxicam on milk production, somatic cell count, probability of re-treatment, and culling of dairy cows with mild clinical mastitis. J Dairy Sci. 2009 Sep;92(9):4421-31. doi: 10.3168/jds.2009-2284. Erratum in: J Dairy Sci. 2009 Nov;92(11):5765. PMID: 19700702.