What Is The Most Appropriate Fluid To Treat Udder Edema In Animal With Mastitis?

Author: Richard Laven PhD BVetMed MRCVS

Reviewed: Richard Laven 2016

Published: 2010

Mastitis direction should exist focussed on preventing disease, but if disease does occur then information technology needs to be promptly identified and treated.

Foremilking

Stripping milk from a cow and examining it, prior to milking, is still the best method for detecting nigh early cases of clinical mastitis. This is because changes in the milk are frequently the commencement sign of mastitis. Milk changes (clots, flecks, changes in color or consistency) can be seen when milk is stripped on to a dark surface.  The changes in milk are related to the causal organism with clots and flakes tending to be more common in mastitis due to Staphs and Streps, while straw-coloured milk is typically associated with E. coli. There is considerable overlap and other factors demand to be taken into account when deciding what treatment to use.

Test of the foremilk is like shooting fish in a barrel to do and requires no specialized equipment, so is available to every stockperson. Nevertheless, probably less than x% include it in their milking routine, mainly because of the time information technology takes.

Fig one: Stripping milk onto a nighttime surface before milking the cow is a unproblematic and effective method of early on mastitis detection

Examining the udder

Visual examination and palpation of the udder prior to putting on the clusters should exist function of all milking routines. Mastitis causes udder swelling, reddening, hardness, oestrus and pain which tin often be detected even with a fairly cursory test.

The trouble with relying on udder examination as the first line of mastitis detection is that udder changes are detectable fairly tardily in the procedure, then by the time disease is detected considerable losses have occurred. Afterward identification besides means delayed treatment, which tends to exist less effective than early treatment and increases the risk of affliction spread

Fig 2: Conductivity can exist used to detect early on mastitis but information technology is not a uncomplicated alternative to examining foremilk. Picture from qmps.vet.cornell.edu/Services/lactocorder.htm

In-line filters

Many plants have mastitis detectors fitted in the long milk tubes.  These can be useful if checked after every cow is milked.  However, in directly-to-line parlours milk is in the tank earlier infection is identified, also in-line filters can restrict milk and air flow through the long milk tube reducing milking machine efficiency.  Checking the main milking found filters for clots at the end of milking is common practice but should not be used equally a method of early mastitis detection!

Fig iii: The principal milking plant filter should not be used as a method of mastitis detection

Conductivity

Mastitis changes the concentration of ions in the milk, which changes its electrical conductivity. Such changes can occur 24 to 36 hours earlier visible signs develop. This has atomic number 82 to the development of cow-side and in-line conductivity meters. Unfortunately, detecting mastitis using conductivity is not as unproblematic as measuring cell count. Firstly, there is no unmarried threshold; different cows have dissimilar conductivities and then to detect mastitis yous need to find a modify in conductivity which requires multiple tests. Secondly, whole moo-cow conductivity is not sensitive enough - changes in an affected quarter can easily be swamped by the lack of change in the other 3 quarters. And then individual quarter tests are needed. This means that in a 100 moo-cow herd, 400 electrical conductivity tests are needed every milking. So electrical conductivity monitoring requires a dedicated computer programme to deal with all the information. Finally, fifty-fifty with a false positive rate of <0.v% per exam this means that in a 100-cow herd, two cows will exist wrongly flagged as having a new case of mastitis every milking - most rises in electrical conductivity are not due to mastitis. It is all-time used as a screening test to identify cows for closer examination.

Grading mastitis

One time it is identified, information technology is important to identify the severity of mastitis equally this is crucial in determining what treatment to requite.

Mild mastitis: Abnormality of the milk is the main sign with little show of alter in the udder and no systemic signs such as dullness and loss of appetite.

Moderate mastitis : Changes in the udder are detectable as well as changes in the milk. These changes tin occur slowly or rapidly. There may be pocket-sized systemic changes such every bit reduction in feed intake.

Over a long catamenia of time both of these types of mastitis can persist, leading to chronic inflammation and damage in the udder (chronic mastitis).

Severe mastitis: Marked changes in the udder and milk are combined with major systemic furnishings in the cow such as fever, loss of appetite, depression, stupor, aridity, and collapse. These cows demand urgent veterinary attention.

Treating mastitis during lactation

There are ii aims of mastitis treatment:

one) Returning milk to normal with an acceptable cell count so that information technology tin can be sold again

2) Getting rid of the bacteria

The first is easier than the second. Balmy mastitis can often disappear in a few days with no treatment or with massage and hand stripping of the quarter.  Yet the bacteria may nonetheless be there. The same process may also occur afterwards antibiotic treatment, particularly short courses with short milk withholds. Getting a visible cure without a consummate bacteriological cure may result in an increase in subsequent clinical infections and a permanently raised SCC.

Fig four: Treatment with intramammary antibiotics remains the basis of most mastitis treatment

Fig 5: There is little sense in treating an older cow with chronic Staph aureus and a persistently loftier prison cell count

Antibiotics

These are the footing of well-nigh treatment regimes. There are two options: intramammary antibiotics, the classic mastitis tube and systemic antibiotics given by the intramuscular or subcutaneous route.

Intramammary antibiotics should be the first-line handling for cows with balmy simple mastitis in a single quarter. Systemic antibiotics should be used when more than one quarter is affected, when udder changes are marked or when the cow is obviously ill.  Combination therapy, with both systemic and intramammary antibiotics, may increase bacteriological cure rates but should only exist used based on advice from your veterinarian.

All farms should accept an individualised standard operating procedure (SOP) for the treatment of mastitis with antibiotics. This should include details such equally when to use intramammary antibiotics, when to use systemic therapy and when to use combined treatment, besides as guidance on when non to treat because the cow is unlikely to reply (a high SCC cow with a history of Staph. aureus infection). Information technology should as well detail the products bachelor to the staff that take been prescribed for mastitis treatment on that subcontract.  All staff milking cows should exist familiar with this SOP.

Fig vi: Cows that are ill considering of mastitis need immediate veterinary attention

Not-steroidals (NSAIDs)

These are aspirin-like drugs which reduce the inflammation and pain associated with mastitis. They have proven very useful in astringent cases of mastitis, merely at that place is now increasing testify of their usefulness in balmy to moderate cases. Cows treated with intramammary antibiotics and NSAIDs had lower jail cell counts, better cure rates and better fertility than cows treated with antibiotics alone.

Treatment 'failure'

There are 4 reasons why treatment does non result in render to normal:

ane. Incorrect antibiotic - mastitis-causing organisms not killed by the called treatment

two. Non enough antibiotics for long plenty at the site of infection - although leaner are killed, not all are and return later on the end of treatment.

3. Re-infection - treatment works but cow gets re-infected.

4. Wrong moo-cow - persistent damage to the udder can foreclose the antibody from coming into contact with the leaner in sufficient concentration.

Near intramammary antibiotics are designed to exist effective confronting virtually common mastitis pathogens, but some accept a narrow spectrum. Systemic antibiotics tend to have a narrower spectrum. Then determining antibiotics to utilise for offset-line should be based on a thorough understanding of the principal pathogens on your subcontract. This is disquisitional to the development of your mastitis SOP; input from your veterinary is essential in determining the most appropriate antibiotics to use on your subcontract.  True antibiotic failure is a rare crusade of poor treatment response.

Antibiotic treatment of mastitis is aimed at getting the cow dorsum into milk equally soon every bit possible - brusk courses with depression amounts of antibiotics with curt milk withholds. This reduces the gamble of killing all the leaner. Longer treatment is more effective but more expensive, but it should be considered on farms where recurrent cases are a problem, and when  apparent cure rates after standard courses are lower than expected. Again, changes in antibiotic treatment length need to course part of your mastitis treatment SOP, and veterinary advice is crucial.

For some cows no thing how much antibiotic you use the chances of cure are very low. For example a 5-yr old cow, treated at 150 days in milk, with a SCC of 2,000,000 cells/mL because of Staph aureus infection has approximately 1% chance of cure. The master reason for failure in these cases is that the antibiotics never reach the leaner in sufficient concentration. These cows need to exist identified and removed from the herd. Handling will non be economic.

 Summary

• Mastitis may result in changes in the milk, udder and cow or any combination.
• Foremilking is the best method of early on mastitis detection - clots, flecks, and changes in colour or consistency can be seen when milk is stripped on a night surface.
• Observation and palpation of the udder is essential merely tends to find only afterwards or more severe mastitis cases.
• Mastitis can exist treated by intramammary or systemic antibiotics or a combination of both.
• Intramammary drugs tend to be all-time for unmarried quarter balmy mastitis, while systemic treatment is better for more than severe cases or multiple quarter infection.
• An SOP that is bachelor for all staff should be developed for mastitis treatment with antibiotics.
• Credible treatment failure is commonly due to insufficient antibiotics being given for too short a period of time. Yet, non all cows will respond to handling. Place these cows before wasting money on antibiotics

Source: https://www.nadis.org.uk/disease-a-z/cattle/mastitis/mastitis-part-4-detecting-and-treating-clinical-mastitis/

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