title: Impact of general injection anaesthesia and analgesia on post-castration behaviour and teat order of piglets.
abstract: Injection anaesthesia with a combination of ketamine and azaperone (K/A) is discussed as a painless alternative to commonly used non-anaesthetized castration. To protect anaesthetized piglets from being crushed, they have to be separated from the sow for 3 h following castration. The aim of this study was to test if this separation and the different treatments would affect short-term behaviour after castration (3 to 6 h after castration) as well as weight gain. Piglets were 5 to 7 days old. Treatment Group 1 received a combination of anaesthesia and analgesia (n = 29, ketamine: 25 mg/kg BW; azaperone: 2 mg/kg BW; meloxicam: 0.4 mg/kg BW), Group 2 received only analgesia (n = 24) and Group 3 received no medication (n = 29). Behaviour and suckling order were compared for a 3 h period the day before castration and after castration. A significantly higher number of teats used by anaesthetized piglets (P = 0.004) suggests a decrease in suckling order stability. There were significant treatment effects between all three groups in the time spent at the sow's teat, with an increase in Group 2 (+69%), decrease in Group 1 (-28%), whereas the control Group 3 (+2%) almost remained unchanged. The anaesthetized piglets showed an increase in the time spent active away from the sow after castration of almost 200% (Groups 2 and 3: ∼50%, P < 0.001). However, no significant treatment effect was seen for weight gain. The results suggest that analgesia has an effect on behaviour, perhaps due to less post-castration pain. This advantage is not apparent for animals receiving additional anaesthesia, probably because of impaired coordination. Although the behavioural changes did not affect weight gain significantly, a decrease in suckling order stability indicates a certain degree of stress due to fighting over teat positions as a consequence of separation. Thus, post-castration behaviour must be taken into account when evaluating alternative castration methods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Husbandry and Ecology, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Theodor-Lieser Street 11, D-06120 Halle, Germany.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: König
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: von Borell
mesh_terms: D018681:Anesthetics, General / Q000009:adverse effects*; D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000502:physiology*; D000833:Animals, Suckling / Q000502:physiology*; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001376:Azaperone / Q000009:adverse effects; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004338:Drug Combinations; D007279:Injections, Subcutaneous / Q000662:veterinary; D007649:Ketamine / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D000077239:Meloxicam; D009919:Orchiectomy / Q000662:veterinary; D010146:Pain / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000662:veterinary; D011184:Postoperative Period; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000502:physiology*; D013843:Thiazines / Q000009:adverse effects; D013844:Thiazoles / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D018681:Anesthetics, General; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D004338:Drug Combinations; D013843:Thiazines; D013844:Thiazoles; D001376:Azaperone; D007649:Ketamine; D000077239:Meloxicam