The course of calving and subsequent reproductive performance of cows withdystocia, with and without retained placenta and intra-uterine treatment with ampicillin/cloxacillin or tetracycline

One hundred and fifty-three cattle with dystocia admitted to Hannover Schoo l of Veterinary Medicine received intrauterine treatment with antibiotics, having been allocated to one of four treatment groups. Animals in Group 1 ( n=40) and in Group 2 (n=43) did not have retained placenta and received an Aniclox(R) tablet (577.5 mg ampicillin and 545.0 mg cloxacillin) intrauteri nally, or a Teclin(R) tablet, containing 2.0 g tetracycline, intra-uterinal ly, respectively. Animals allocated to Group 3 (n=40) and Group 4 (n=30) su ffered from retained placenta and received the above treatments, respective ly, but the dose per treatment was doubled and repeated every other day com pared to Groups 1 and 2. Bacteriological examinations of uterine secretions were made before the first treatment, throughout treatment, at 10 days pos t partum and 6 weeks post partum. Clinical records and subsequent reproduct ive performance and the fate of the animals were evaluated. At 10 days post partum, no pathological findings were observed, from clinical examination, in 80% of Group 1 animals and in 72.4% of Group 2 animals. Bacteriological examinations revealed normal bacterial flora in 60.0% and 44.8% of animals in these two groups, respectively. Six weeks post partum, 93.7% of cows in Group 1 and 79.5% of cows in Group 2 were clinically normal and were bacte riologically normal in 93.7% and 87.2% of cows, respectively. All animals i n Group 1 and 84.4% of cows in Group 2 which were bred again became pregnan t again. The mean duration of treatment for animals with retained placenta in Groups 3 and 4 was 11.6 and 11.7 days, respectively. Following calving, 72.4% of Group 3 cows and 54.1% of Group 4 cows were clinically normal. The bacteriological flora was normal in 89.6% and in 70.8% of cows in these tw o groups, respectively. The proportions of cows which subsequently became p regnant were 81.0% and 80.0%. The results indicate that both antibiotic pre parations used were effective. Differences were statistically not significa nt.