The objectives of this study were to assess the effectiveness of meloxicam at the label dose (0.4 mg/kg) and a high dose (1.0 mg/kg), as well as, ketoprofen (6.0 mg/kg) in reducing pain resulting from surgical castration of piglets. How well piglet grimacing corresponds to expression of pain behaviors is important to determine the accuracy of this novel pain assessment tool. There is limited research on the use of ketoprofen for pain control in piglets following castration.Ī Piglet Grimace Scale (PGS) was developed by our research group at the University of Guelph to rapidly assess pain based on piglet facial expressions ( 8). The label dose of meloxicam (0.4 mg/kg) has had variable success in significantly reducing surgical castration pain ( 4, 7). Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as meloxicam (MEL) and ketoprofen (KET), are the most common type of analgesic given to food animals and are currently being recommended for use in piglets to alleviate pain. This has been recognized as a significant welfare concern in pig production, with guidelines in the EU and Canada now requiring analgesia administration prior to surgical castration ( 5, 6). This is known to be a painful procedure, based on specific behavioral and physiologic indicators, including rump scratching, increased blood cortisol levels, and high-frequency vocalizations ( 2– 4), yet piglets are generally not provided any analgesia or anesthesia for pain relief. Piglets are surgically castrated on commercial pig production farms to prevent boar taint and reduce aggression ( 1).
Our findings also indicate that the use of these NSAIDs were ineffective at alleviating castration-associated pain in piglets. The PGS was a less effective measure to detect acute pain however, our findings suggest it does have utility as a pain assessment tool in neonatal pigs. Piglets demonstrated significantly more pain behaviors 24 h post-castration than at all other time points ( p < 0.0001). Compared to the castrated control, none of the NSAID treatments significantly reduced piglet pain behaviors (0.4 mg/kg MEL: p = 1.385334, 1.0 mg/kg MEL: p = 0.9995, 6.0 mg/kg KET: p = 0.4163) or facial grimacing. Castrated piglets also grimaced significantly more post-procedure than uncastrated piglets ( p = 0.0061). Within each treatment group post-castration, castrated piglets displayed significantly more pain-related behaviors than uncastrated piglets (0.4 mg/kg MEL: p = 0.0339, 1.0 mg/kg MEL: p = 0.0079, 6.0 mg/kg KET: p = 0.0034, Controls: p < 0.0001). Twenty-one behaviors and postures were scored continuously for the first 15 min of each hour and 1,156 still images of piglet faces were collected and scored using the PGS. Piglets were video recorded for 1 h pre-procedure, for 8 h immediately post-castration and for another hour, 24 h post-procedure. Treatments were administered intramuscularly (IM) 20 min prior to surgical castration. Nineteen litters of 5-days-old male piglets ( n = 120) were used and piglets within a litter were randomly assigned to one of eight possible treatments: 0.4 mg/kg MEL-castrated or uncastrated, 1.0 mg/kg MEL-castrated or uncastrated, 6.0 mg/kg KET-castrated or uncastrated, saline (castrated control), or sham (uncastrated control). This study also examined the utility of the Piglet Grimace Scale (PGS) as a pain assessment tool. The objectives of this study were to assess the efficacy of two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), meloxicam (MEL) (0.4 mg/kg or 1.0 mg/kg) and ketoprofen (KET) (6.0 mg/kg) in reducing behavioral indicators of pain in castrated piglets. While this procedure is known to be painful, piglets are generally not provided any analgesic for pain relief, leading to welfare concerns. Surgical castration of piglets is performed routinely on commercial pig farms, to prevent boar taint and minimize aggression. Department of Pathobiology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
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