Teat lesions Flashcards
What are the main problems occurring with teats?
- They are vulnerable to being trodden on (self/other)
- Damage to teat skin can allow bacteria to colonise predisposing cows to mastitis
- Often lesions are painful making milking difficult or preventing calf suckling
- Can be sign of systemic disease e.g Foot and Mouth or Malignant Catarrhal Fever, Photosensitisation
- Damage by milking machine
List some infectious causes of teat lesions
Warts: Bovine Papillomatosis
Pseudo cowpox
Bovine Herpes Mammilitis
Black Spot
Cow Pox
Udder Impetigo
List some non-infectious causes of teat lesions
Hyperkeratosis
Photosensitisation
Chapped Teats
Cut Teats
Teat Peas
Teat Stenosis (narrowing)
Blind Teats = teat that doesn’t connect with the rest of the quarter
How should you approach the investigation into cases of teat lesions
- Age of animal e.g. teat warts younger heifers
- One or several affected e.g. Pseudocowpox usually number of animals
- Painful? – Pseudocowpox not usually painful but Bovine Herpes Mammilitis is very painful
- History and clinical signs, can take dry scabs for E.M., BHM serology
- General treatment use a teat cannula to allow milk to drain during milking, plus i/m antibiotics, emollients and antiseptics to improve teat skin, (milking order)
What is agent causing teat warts?
Bovine papilloma virus
Which animals most commonly present with bovine papilloma virus?
Young animals
How is bovine papilloma virus transferred?
Flies may be involved in transmission
What is the main issue of bovine papilloma virus infections?
Harbour bacteria predisposing to mastitis, poor liner attachment leading to teat end impacts and difficult milking, pain can make milking or suckling by calf difficult
How are bovine papilloma virus infections treated?
Most self cure given time
Can try removal by ligation, surgery, cryosurgery
Circular or horse shoe shaped scabs on teats are caused by?
Pseudo cowpox
Describe the main features of a pseudo cowpox infection
Not particularly painful
Spreads through the herd and can recur months later
Treated by thorough post milking teat disinfection
Describe the teat lesions caused by bovine herpes mammilitis
Very painful vesicle to ulcer often whole teat
Healing slow (weeks)
Life long immunity
How is cowpox transmitted?
Orthopox Virus primarily disease of cats and is transmitted by cats
Describe the lesions causes by cowpox
Painful vesicles, ulcers, scabs weeks to heal
Cant diagnose from visual appearance only
Describe blackspot test lesions/infection
Common
Damage to teat end e.g. teat end eversion from excess vacuum plus secondary infection with Fusobacterium necrophorum
How is blackspot treated?
Topical antibiotics (oxytetracycline spray or intramammary), teat cannula
Check Milking Machine
Which agent is the most common cause of teat impetigo?
Staph aureus
Describe photosensitisation and sunburn of teats
- Can occur as part of generalised skin photosensitisation disorder in which non pigmented skin only affected
- Sunburn on lateral aspects teats unpigmented skin
- Can relate to liver function and cow nutrition
Describe the main features of chapped teats
Painful
Worn teat liners
Poor Teat skin care
Calf suckling
Tx: Emollients, teat cannula to rest
Describe the grades of teat hyperkeratosis
1 = normal - normal teat end with no ring around the teat canal
2 = smooth - smooth raised ring or slight rough ring with no keratin fronds
3 = Rough - a raised, roughened ring with isolated fronds of keratin extending 1-3mm from the orifice
4 = Very rough - a raised ring with rough fronds of old keratin extending more than 4mm from the orifice. Rim of the ring is rough and crackered giving the teat end a ‘flower’ appearance
Describe the 3 fold routine for teat dipping
- Pre-milking dip to remove organisms from teat skin that may enter the udder via teat during milking - environmental mastitis pathogens
- Post-milking dip to kill bacteria on the teat after milking and protect teat from new infection from the environment
- Contagious mastitis pathogens
- Teat skin pathogens - Condition teat skin to withstand disinfectants and milking machine
What constituents do you want to make up teat dips
- Disinfectants e.g. iodine, chlorhexidine, lactic acids
- Emollients for skin condition
- Dye?
- Sticking agents to make sure it adheres to the skin
Describe the correct application of teat tips
Right dip, right concentration
Should be dipped to cover the whole teat
- Dip pot
- Spray: automatic vs manual
- Cluster
What is a teat pea?
Pedunculated granuloma attached to wall of teat canal
Why should teat peas be removed?
Can block the flow of milk
How are tea peas removed?
Hudsons spiral inserted by rotating up teat canal then jerk upwards to tear granuloma off. Granuloma then milked out
When removing teat peas what medication should be given?
Prophylactic antibiotics to prevent mastitis
Teat stenosis usually occurs in sequelae to?
Trauma
How is teat stenosis treated?
- Treated by local anaesthesia, sedation insert small teat knife and rotate
- Rest teat with teat cannula and I/m antibiotics for 3-5 days
Why is prognosis guarded with eat stenosis treatment?
Scar tissue may reform
With blind teats, if the heifer has no milk how should you treat this?
Leave it as you cannot open that quarter
How should you approach cut teats?
Examination careful. Sedate the cow in a crush e.g. low dose Xylazine and lift hind leg as for foot trimming. Can also sedate and cast cow. Clean wounds thoroughly
How should you treat superficial teat cuts?
Do not suture, can use tape and / or glue
How should you treat deeper teat cuts
Use local anaesthetic teat lumen block or ring block around base of teat, clean and debride
Suture with simple interrupted and swaged on needle 3 metric OR staple OR glue
How can milking machines damage teats?
- Damage to skin -> bacterial colonisation
- Teat end sphincter hyperkeratosis
How can milking machines cause damage to teat skin?
- Worn /hard liners
- Inadequate rest phase in pulsators, pulsators set too fast => poor circulation
- Excess vacuum
- Inadequate emollient in post milking teat dip
How can milking machines cause teat end/sphincter hyperkeratosis?
Excess Vacuum
Fluctuating vacuums (teat end impact)
Over milking (no ACR, ACR set too high)
Faulty liners
Poor pre-milking teat preparation
Describe the main features of supernumerary teats
- Common often inherited
- Ideally removed in heifers at time of disbudding
- Older animal local anaesthetic and scissors or emasculators very useful if big
- Make sure you are 100% sure the teat is supernumerary
Supernumerary teats can be removed without anaesthetic and using sharp scissors in animals at what age?
Under 2 months old
