Therapy of Claw Diseases

Abstract

The usual treatment of infectious causes of lameness is parenteral antibiotics for foot rot and topical antibiotics and disinfectants for the dermatitides. There continue to be cases of drug resistant foot rot that mostly respond to tylosin when other routine antibiotics fail. Tetracycline powder, oxytetracycline liquid, and a variety of acid or metal salt disinfectants are used successfully to treat digital dermatitis. Greater opportunities for veterinary involvement in lame cow care exist in surgical management of deep sepsis of the digit. Description of claw amputation, simple arthrodesis, navicular resection and arthrodesis, and flexor tendon resection illustrate that there are several field surgical procedures that can be offered for severely lame cows. The outcome for a group of cows from our client farms that received these surgical procedures, without randomization, showed that recovery was better for the arthrodesis procedures than for amputation. Current information on the pathogenesis of digital diseases is included with the discussion of treatment options.