Self-administration by consumption of flunixin in feed alleviates the pain and inflammation associated with castration and tail docking of lambs

•Analgesia for knife castration and tail docking in lambs was examined.•Voluntary consumption and injection of flunixin were equally effective.•Pain behaviours, abnormal postures and inflammation were reduced by flunixin.•Flunixin in feed is a practical method for alleviating pain in lambs.•Residual...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied animal behaviour science 2017-03, Vol.188, p.26-33
Main Authors: Marini, Danila, Colditz, Ian G., Hinch, Geoff, Petherick, J. Carol, Lee, Caroline
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analgesics
Animal husbandry
Avoidance behavior
Breeding of animals
Castration
Docking
Haptoglobin
Injection
Livestock
NSAID
Pain
Pain relief
Painful husbandry procedures
Pasture
Self-administration
Sheep
Studies
Surgery
Swelling
Tails
Welfare
Wounds
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Summary:•Analgesia for knife castration and tail docking in lambs was examined.•Voluntary consumption and injection of flunixin were equally effective.•Pain behaviours, abnormal postures and inflammation were reduced by flunixin.•Flunixin in feed is a practical method for alleviating pain in lambs.•Residual signs of pain remained in lambs receiving flunixin. It can be impractical for farmers to provide pain relief to livestock following husbandry procedures such as castration and tail-docking, particularly in pasture-based systems because animals need to be repeatedly gathered to handling facilities and restrained. We investigated whether voluntary consumption by lambs of an analgesic incorporated into feed can achieve pain relief following surgical castration and hot-knife tail-docking. Sixty-four, singleton, male Merino lambs were randomly allocated to one of four treatment groups: sham castration and tail-docking (S), castrated+tail-docked+no pain relief (C), castrated+tail-docked+flunixin in feed (4.0mg/kg, CF) and castrated+tail-docked+flunixin injection (2mg/kg, CI). Haematology, cortisol, and plasma haptoglobin concentrations were measured before and up to 48h after treatment. Lambs also had their scrotal and tail wounds scored based on severity of swelling and wound appearance, with 2 being a healed wound and 8 being severe swelling and evident necrosis and pus. Behaviours were recorded by video for 12h after treatment. Lambs in the CF and CI groups displayed fewer active pain avoidance behaviours (P
ISSN:0168-1591
1872-9045
DOI:10.1016/j.applanim.2016.12.008