Pneumonia Season - choosing the right anti-inflammatory
Changes in temperature and humidity at this time of year can play havoc with calf health and often we see spikes in pneumonia cases. Prevention is always our focus with calf pneumonia but we also need to make sure any treatments used are as effective as possible.
Historically we would have considered antibiotics to be the "treatment" for calf pneumonia but when you look at the bugs causing pneumonia you see that often it's a virus that's doing all the damage in the first place, this then allows a secondary bacteria to get hold. This isn't to say antibiotics aren't needed, they are; but the choice of anti-inflammatory to reduce the severe inflammation in the lungs is critically important too.
Pneumonia Treatments:
Below is a table of all the commonly used pneumonia treatments and some details about their dose, route, length of action and if an anti-inflammatory is included.
If you are using Alamycin LA 300 , Zactran or Draxxin - you will need to add in an anti-inflammatory alongside.
Anti-inflammatories:
You can see on the table above that the anti-inflammatories differ in how quick they get to work and how long they last for. In an acute case of pneumonia you want the quickest anti-inflammatory to reduce the damage happening in the lungs, reduce the temperature and get the calf back eating again.
Allevinix:
Allevinix is one of the strongest pain killers and anti-inflammatory drugs we have - it can go in the muscle, is fast acting (20mins) and lasts 24 hours or so - and you will often see an obvious improvement in the calf. This is the anti-inflammatory found already mixed in Hexasol LA and Resflor. If you use Allevinix as the anti-inflammatory in your treatment protocol, you may find you need to use it once a day in the worst affected calves to keep the inflammation under control. As with all anti-inflammatory meds, it is important to make sure calves you treat are well hydrated and drinking plenty.
Category C versus Category D antibiotics - what is the difference?
Each antibiotic is now assigned to one of four different categories; A, B, C and D. Category A antibiotics are only ever used in human medicine whilst category B can be used in farm animals but only under special circumstances and on an individual, case by case basis. Category C can be used with "caution" but ideally we should be using Category D antibiotics which are our "first line" treatments.
Category D pneumonia treatments:
- Alamycin 300 LA
- Hexasol LA
Category C pneumonia treatments:
- Resflor
- Zeleris
- Zactran
- Draxxin
- Draxxin-plus
Some supermarket contracts are now asking us to justify the use of Category C antibiotics with culture and sensitivity results - get in touch for more details.
BLUETONGUE - THE LATEST SITUATION
As you know, Bluetongue has arrived in the UK and the restriction zone is expanding and getting closer to us every day.
Below shows the restriction zone in red: 7th October 2024
Bluetongue virus is passed on via biting midges and it seems infected midges have blown across the Channel and bitten and infected cattle and sheep which has then infected our own midge population.
The strain of Bluetongue this time is BTV-3 - it affects all ruminants but seems to cause much more severe disease in sheep. BTV-3 is notifiable which means if you suspect it you must phone us, or APHA if you want to go direct: 03000 200 301
Signs to look out for:
SHEEP:
- mouth ulcers
- snotty nose and mouth
- swollen head, neck and above the hooves
- lameness
- abortion
CATTLE:
- lethargy
- crusty muzzle
- snotty nose
- milk drop
- not eating
- high temp
- reddened teats
BTV-3 Vaccine:
An emergency permit has been passed to allow the use of one of three BTV-3 vaccines in the UK - currently these will only be permitted in the affected areas and all licenses for the vaccines will have to go through APHA.
It is also worth noting that all three of the BTV-3 vaccines are only suppressive, not preventative - this means they won't stop your animals getting infected or becoming infectious, but will reduce how severe the infection is.
BTV cases outside the restriction zone
Eight cases of BTV-3 have been detected outside the current restricted zone. The premises are in Bath, north east Somerset, Shropshire, Cheshire, Cumbria, Anglesey, Gwynedd, North Yorkshire and Cornwall. The animals moved to the premises from areas where disease is now known to be circulating, but the moves took place before bluetongue restrictions were put in place. The premises are all under restriction and the infected animals have been culled. Further testing will be undertaken to ensure there has been no local transmission.
Please be sensible when it comes to purchasing cattle or sheep from areas close to the restriction zone as it is possible that disease is circulating beyond the boundary.
MEDS UPDATE
Apologies; it's a busy month for updates on meds supply issues and swaps/changes. Making sure we protect you from outages, supply issues and communicate any essential changes is an important part of what we do.
CLAMOX RTU:
Synulox 100ml injection has now swapped over to Clamox RTU due to a manufacturing supply issue with one of the ingredients in Synulox.
Clamox RTU is exactly the same medicine as Synulox RTU
- Dose: 1ml/20kg IM once a day for 3-5 days
- Milk withhold: 60 hours
- Meat withhold: 42 days
- Licensed in cattle for: Respiratory infections, soft tissue infections (abscesses, arthritis), metritis, mastitis.
SYNULOX LC
The supply issue with the ingredients in Synulox injection is now starting to affect the supply of Synulox mastitis tubes - we've got stock to cover the next 3-4 months and then will be swapping over to Clamox LC tubes - more details in due course.
UBROSTAR RED:
Ubrostar Red dry cow tubes have been out of stock for a number of months but normal supply of the herd packs has now resumed.
BETAMOX 150mg/ml
There are some short term supply issues with Betamox; we've got stock to cover the next few months until normal supply resumes.
PENTOMYCIN
There are supply issues with Pen & Strep but we've got Pentomycin back in stock which is a like-for-like swap; just remember it should be kept in the fridge.
Get in touch
Paula: 07764 747855 paula@haywoodfarmvets.com
Tom: 07837 291097 tom@haywoodfarmvets.com
Katie: 07507 656747 katie@haywoodfarmvets.com
Els: 07980 487146 els@haywoodfarmvets.com
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Out of Hours: 01630 810016