Evaluation of CO2 anaesthesia applied by a commercial device for the castration of male suckling piglets under field conditions.

The aim of this study was to describe clinical and behavioural parameters of piglets castrated with the use of CO2 anaesthesia by using the commercial available device MS Pigsleeper. 80 male piglets with three to six days of age were allocated to four groups, and were castrated or left uncastrated either after receiving 70% CO2/30% O02, or without anaesthesia. Defensive movements and heart rates were measured during induction and castration phase. At castration phase the dewclaw reflex was tested and piglets were monitored for vocalisation. During recovery and the subsequent five minutes conspicuous behaviours were recorded. Intensity of defensive movements was significantly higher in groups with CO2 anaesthesia during induction phase. Defensive movements were significantly lower in groups with CO2, but also not fully absent, during castration phase. Surgical tolerance was only reached by 20% (4/20) of piglets castrated under anaesthesia. Heart rates were above physiological levels at the beginning of induction phase and dropped significantly thereafter. Dropping of heart rates was more pronounced in anaesthetised groups leading to significant differences compared to non-anaesthetised groups. A minimum heart rate of 20 beats per minute was measured. Conspicuous behaviours as spasms, gasping and licking were described for pigs after CO2 anaesthesia. Measured parameters implicated stress and discomfort during induction and recovery phase and severe cardiovascular depression during CO2 anaesthesia. Surgical tolerance was reached by only a small proportion of anaesthetised piglets. Therefore, welfare aspects were not met using CO2 anaesthesia for piglet castration in general and especially by applying the gas anaesthesia with the commercial device MS Pigsleeper.

[Investigation of the prevalence of swine torque teno virus in Austria]. / Untersuchung zur Verbreitung des Torque Teno-virus beim Schwein in Osterreich.

In the present retrospective study, serum samples from a total of 253 pigs of different age groups from 83 farms collected in the year 2008 were included.The sera were analysed for the presence of torque teno virus (TTV) genogroups 1 and 2. Furthermore, the correlation between TTV and PCV-2 was investigated. 62.1% of the pigs were positive for TTV1 and/or TTV2 by PCR. 21.7% of the samples were positive for TTV1 and TTV2, 16.2% only for TTV1 and 23.3% only for TTV2. In 80.7% of the investigated farms at least one animal was TTV positive. In the growing and fattening period significantly more pigs were positive for TTV than in other age classes. A positive association was found between TTV1 and IgM against PCV-2, between TTV2 and PCV-2 results by in situ hybridisation (ISH) as well as TTV1 and TTV2 and PCV-2 results by qPCR. A significant correlation could also be seen between the diagnosis,porcine respiratory disease complex (PRDC)" and the detection of TTV, whereas there was none to the diagnosis "porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS)". In the present study, TTV was detected in Austria for the first time.

[Investigation about the use of analgesics for the reduction of castration-induced pain in suckling piglets]. / Untersuchungen uber den Einsatz von Schmerzmitteln zur Reduktion kastrationsbedingter Schmerzen beim Saugferkel.

The pre-emptive use of analgesics for the reduction of pain induced by the castration of suckling piglets was investigated by measuring cortisol before as well as 30 min (minutes), 1 h (hour), 4 h and 24 h after castration/handling and by post surgical behaviour (0-60 min and 180-240 min after castration/handling). 245 male, 4 to 6 days old piglets with a good general condition were divided into twelve groups. The drugs meloxicam, flunixin, metamizole or carprofen, respectively, or saline solution in control piglets were administered 15 to 30 min before manipulation. All tested non-opioid analgesics reduced the rise of the cortisol concentration after castration. Piglets receiving meloxicam and flunixin had significantly lower values 30 min, 1 h and 4 h after castration than the control group, and already after 1 h they did not differ significantly from the corresponding handling groups. The frequency of occurrence of tail wagging, drooping the tail and changing the position was explicitly reduced when meloxicam and flunixin were injected before castration. The effect of flunixin was most clear. Results indicate that non-opioid analgesics, especially efficient anti-inflammatory drugs like meloxicam and flunixin, are capable of reducing castration-induced pain in piglets.