eChapters

Synchronization of estrus is making a group of cows to come into estrus at the same time.  Effective estrus detection requires much time, labour, skill and expense and it is a major limiting factor in artificial insemination programme in cattle.  It was the principal stimulus that led to research in the development of progestational and prostaglandin compounds. 

Advantages

1.     Improve the efficiency of heat detection

2.     Management tool, better planning of breeding activities and wider use of artificial insemination 

3.     Solve problem of unobserved estrus

4.     Maintain short calving interval

5.     Overall improvement in herd productivity and reproductive efficiency

6.     Controlled lactation

7.     Management of replacement heifers

8.     Useful in embryo transfer programmes

9.     Reduce labour

10.     Possibly reduce involuntary culling for reproductive reasons

Buffaloes, though have great production potential, do suffer with many reproductive problems viz.  delayed age of puberty and  sexual maturity, weak / silent estrus, longer inter-calving period,  seasonality in breeding, poor libido  and poor semen quality. Little information is available about the buffaloes as compared to cattle because all the time we try to apply the knowledge available about the cattle to the buffalo.  Some comparative reproductive parameters in cow & she buffalo & cow bull and buffalo bull are depicted in Table 8. 1 and Table 8.2 respectively.

Laparoscopy is an operative procedure performed through a key-hole opening with a rigid endoscope that allows visual inspection of organs.  The laparoscopy helps in arriving diagnosis of various reproductive and digestive disorders quickly.  By laparoscopy clinician can visualize the external surface of the abdominal organs.  Tumours, abscess, cyst, lesions, growth, hemorrhage, adhesions of the organs in the abdominal cavity can be readily diagnosed by this technique.  Aspiration of follicular fluid, biopsy of lesions and sterilization are commonly employed maneuvers by this technique.  It is having both diagnostic and therapeutic value.  The procedure consists of placement of transabdominal rigid endoscope after establishment of pneumoperitoneum in the body cavity.   The images of different organs are displayed on the TV monitor when the laparoscope is moved within the peritoneal cavity with the illumination through halogen light source.

Buffalo plays an important role in Indian livestock economics.  India has more than the half of the world buffalo population, contributing 50% of total milk production of the country.  The buffalo is said more productive than an average cow due to the higher fat percentage (7%) in the milk, better feed conversion ability and disease resistance.  Buffaloes have lower reproductive efficiency in the form of delayed age of maturity, longer calving interval, weak / silent estrus, seasonality of breeding, poor libido and poor semen quality. A large number of buffaloes do not conceive due to some gynaecological problems and are being slaughtered every year.  The most commonly observed reproductive disorders are detailed below.

Shock is a life threatening condition which is usually manifested by serious pathophysiological abnormalities. In most cases it is due to poor tissue perfusion with impaired cellular metabolism.

       It is a clinical state resulting from an inadequate supply of oxygen to the tissues or an ability of the tissues to properly use oxygen.

       Shock can also be defined as imbalance between oxygen supply and oxygen consumption. In other words, the delivary of oxygen does not meet the needs of the tissues.

       Shock is a state in which the vital functions of the body are depressed because of acute reduction in cardiac output and effective circulating blood volume.

There is no rapid direct test to determine fertility of semen sample. During freezing and thawing of semen 20-80% of the spermatozoa become immotile or die. In addition to this, there may be damage to spermatozoa by disintegration of sperm cell membrane and acrosome leading to loss of intracellular enzymes.   The only reliable method to evaluate the semen is to inseminate a cow and get a calf at the end of gestation period.  Now-a-days new methods have been developed for in-vitro assessment of fertility of spermatozoa.  Some of these methods are exhaustive, time consuming, need for a full fledged analysis and difficult under field conditions.

It is defined as the reaction of living tissue to injury which begins following a sub-lethal injury to tissues and ends with complete healing. The purpose of inflammation is to destroy and remove the irritant and to repair the damaged tissue. 

Causes
    1.    Pathogenic organisms: Bacteria, virus, fungi, protozan and parasites.
    2.    Chemical poisons: Acid and alkalies. 
    3.    Mechanical or thermal injuries. 
    4.    Immune reaction: Antigen antibody reaction.

These specialized instruments are used for operation of skeletal system. Common instruments are as follows :

    1.    Loman bone holding clamp : It is used for holding fractured bony ends with bone plates.
 
    2.    Bone plates : are used for rigid immobilization of fractured fragments. Bone plates are of difference shapes, sizes and with varying number of holes. These are of following types :
 
        a.    Dynamic compression plate.
        b.    Neutralization plate.
        c.    Shcrnab plate etc.
 
    3.    Bone screws : are either used to immobilize fractured fragments or to fix bone plates. They are of different sizes and classified in to cancellous and cortical types.

The most common indication for laparoscopy is to examine and biopsy the abdominal organs or masses. Additional diagnostic procedures that can be performed using laparoscopic guidance include gall bladder puncture to collect bile, contrast radiographic techniques for the diagnosis of bile duct obstructions, overdistension of gall bladder, portography and splenic pulp pressure measurement.

Introduction

Laparoscopy is an operative procedure, performed through a keyhole opening with a rigid telescope that allows visual inspections and biopsy of the peritoneal cavity and its organs. Laparoscopy was first introduced in 1901 in human medicine. It has only been in the last 15 years that laparoscopy has been widely used in various animal species for research, clinical diagnosis and therapeutic purposes. Veterinary laparoscopy was widely used initially in the reproductive physiology in equine, nonhuman primate and various zoo and exotic species. The first clinical application of laparoscopy in dog involved ovarian physiology in the early 1960s, and Lettow reported the first laparoscopic liver biopsy procedure in a dog in 1972. The utility of laparoscopy in animal physiology particularly in reproductive physiology is wide and it has been used in almost all the species with encouraging results.

Myology: It is the branch of biological science which deals with the description of different muscles and their accessory structures.

Muscle is a contractile tissue present in all animals. Its function is to produce motion. Impulses from nerve cells control the contraction of each muscle fiber. Contractile part of muscles is muscular tissue.

There are three kinds of muscular tissue in the body:

a. Striated or striped muscle

b. Non-striated or unstriped or smooth muscle

c. Cardiac muscle.

For dissection purpose only striated muscles are included in this book.

Site of Incision

Make an incision around the eyeball at the margin of orbit.Then remove the supraorbital process by cutting dorsal and ventral end to access inside the orbit. Remove all the attachments of eyeball from osseous orbit through carefull dissection. Then remove all the extraoccular and periorbital fat to expose the muscles of eyeball.

Site of incision: Make an incision from distal end of cranial margin of stifle joint to coxal tuber and extend it dorsally up to mid dorsal line of the body. Make another incision at mid caudal of thigh from stifle region to tuber ischii and extend it to mid dorsal up to the base of the tail and then connects the distal ends of both previous incisions and reflect the skin up to mid dorsal line of the body.

Most of ultrasound machines are designed for imaging with a particular resolution linear and convex transducers. These machines can be used for general purpose for abdominal, obstetrics, gynecological, small parts, urology and cardiac applications. Most of the machines have standard measurement software viz. distance, area, volume, circumference, and obstetrical gestational age measurement for BPD, HC, AC, FL, GS, CRL, AD and FW.

Assessment of probes: One should examine the probe whether it is linear array or curved (convex) array. The probe should also be checked for its frequency. These days multi-frequency probes are supplied with the ultrasound-machine. These multiple frequencies could be 2.0 to 5.0 MHz with centrally fixed frequency of 3.5 MHz. The frequencies could be 4.0 to 7.0 (5.0 MHz setting), 5.0 to 9.0 MHz (7.5 MHz setting). The area and depth covered by various frequencies should be known.

Before setting the ultrasound machine, one should make sure of all the auxiliary devices for the machines. These are Thermal video printer, Ultrasound gel, Biopsy needle, image saving devices (USB device or internal saving mechanism), wire, Uninterrupted Power Supply etc.

Identifying and knowing the main system: One should note down the name and model of ultrasound machine as these are quoted in all the documents published with the ultrascan images generated on that particular machine. It is written on one side of front panel. On the front panel, there are various knobs for proper setting. One should locate the auxiliary power switch of the machine to begin with. Generally, there is power indicator on the machine that shows light on when power button is pushed to on position. The auxiliary power switch may also have indications of its ON and OFF positions, may be marked with 0 and 1 or other symbols. As shown in the figure below, there are various operating buttons on the operating panel. These might vary from Machine to Machine.

Failure to accurately diagnose ovarian function is said to be one of the reason for poor reproductive efficiency in this species. The information regarding ovarian function can be gathered either by observing the reproductive behavior of the animal, status of reproductive hormones or palpation of ovaries per rectum for the presence of cyclic or pathological structures. However, due to poor expression of estrus signs behavioral observations poorly reflect the accurate information about ovarian function in buffaloes. Similarly, palpation per rectum does not provide reliable diagnosis since the CL is frequently embedded deep in the ovarian stroma of buffalo ovary and findings vary due to its subjective nature. Furthermore, measurement of hormones requires sophisticated laboratory procedures/ instruments for making a correct diagnosis. Therefore, real time ultrasonic examination is a better alternative to ascertain reproductive status of buffaloes and for devising suitable strategies to optimize fertility of this species (Sharma, 2003). However, it is important to mention that information gained from ultrasound must be used in conjunction with reproductive history of the animal, palpation of genital tract, and other diagnostic procedures rather than in isolation.

Ultrasonography has an importance place in human practice and veterinary f ield especially in canine practice. Since many years two dimensional ultrasound has been used for scanning purposes both in human and animal practice. But the scenario has changed in human practice with development of three dimensional technology and later four dimensional ultrasonography has developed which shows movements of the objects being scanned especially in the case of fetuses. Nowadays it has been common to use these advanced technology in the human practices. Yet these technologies are in the childhood stage in the veterinary field. High cost of 3D/4D ultrasound equipment, operational difficulties in non sedated animals & lack of specific knowledge about the operation of volume scanning hinder the use of this technology in the veterinary field. Better understanding of the different application of these technologies can be made to use in research areas for the better understanding of the abnormalities, post therapeutics as well in the diagnosis of the diseases

Principle of Three Dimensional and Four Dimensional Ultrasonography

Sound waves of frequency higher than human audible frequency usually ranges from 2-13 MHz are used in ultrasonography. Depending upon on depth of tissue from the scanning surfaces frequency is selected. Three dimensional ultrasonography gives three dimensional images of the volume being scanned .it works on the same principle of 2D ultrasonography but ultrasonographic beams are sent different angles to get three dimensional image of object being scanned. Volume information is obtained either directly using 2D array probe or by reconstructing three dimensional volume from a series of continuous or non- continuous 2D images by using software (Fenster and Downey, 2000). An advancement of 3D technology is 4D ultrasound. Four dimensional ultrasound adds the fourth dimension as time and gives a dynamic real-time 3Dultrasonography of the concerned organ with a continuous volume image acquisitioned rendering process. (Khurana and Dahiya, 2004).

The ultrasonography is based on echo-principal i.e. reflection of sound waves. The ultrasound waves, commonly termed as ultrasound beam is generated from the pizzo-electric crystals, under electric stimulation. The sound beam travels and strike to the organs/tissues on its way and get either reflected or reabsorbed by these structures. The reflected beam is received back by the transducer, which are processed and displayed on the monitor of ultrasound scanner. The display of signal is in form of shades of grey scale i.e. from bright to black picture. If these sound beams strike to organ such as bone, then major part of the beam is reflected and it appears bright (white) on screen. If the sound waves strike to fluid, these get absorbed and are not reflected back, therefore, the image of fluid appears as black on the screen. Other organs appear in between black and bright white. In fact, the reflected sound beam is not proportionate to frequency and velocity of emitted ultrasound beam. The strength of ultrasound beam (grey scale) or brightness of the image depends upon the acoustic impedance of organ or tissue. In simple term acoustic impedance is the capacity of tissue or organ to reflect or absorb these sound beams that again depends upon density or composition of these structures. The reflection of sound beams also depends upon, the angle at which the ultrasound beam strikes the structure on its way. The distance of the organ from the transducer also affects image brightness.

Ultrasonography in goat is becoming popular in the field of reproduction and replacing the other old-age techniques, viz. abdominal ballotment, recto- abdominal probes, X-rays and radioimmuno-assays. The reasons are numerous such as unsatisfactory results, hazardous effects to animal, operator or environment, high cost, long delay in diagnostic results and requirement of sophisticated labs. The ultrasound system has low operating cost and does not need special labs as it can be done at farm itself. Ultrasonography is considered safe to the animal and the operator and provides quick and reliable results. The popular opinion about ultrasonography is that it is noninvasive imaging system and is rapid, safe and practical means of diagnosis of pregnancy and reproductive disorders in sheep and goat. The B-mode real time ultrasonographic system particularly portable system is popular among researcher and practitioners. In goat, B-mode real time ultrasonography was used in 1971, using 5 MHz frequency transducer. A transducer of switchable frequency from 7.5 to 5.0 is more popular in small ruminant research and practice.

Key Points

• Patient assessment is only half of the disease diagnosis process.

• Using animal physiological values as a reference point can help measure a patient's health.

• Laboratory results support the patient's evaluation results.

• Patient evaluation findings suggest bodily system involvement.

Introduction

The patient assessment includes the owner's complaint, history, physical examination, and clinical examination of the animals (Fig. 1.1). Proper animal assessment is only part of the illness diagnosis process. Sometimes, evaluation results can be indicative of a medical condition. As a result, at the initial stage, assessing the animal aids in making a confirmation diagnosis. Given its significance, an assessment of the animal must be performed or obtained before concluding the laboratory finding, if available. Assessment can be conducted in several steps, each of which is detailed in the next paragraph. The physiological vital parameters of animals are crucial reference points to conclude the evaluation findings.

Key Points

• Animal bites containing poisons, venoms, or diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality.

• Unattended animals are vulnerable to various types of bites, including snakes, spiders, scorpions, bee stings, lizards, and dogs.

• Snake bites can be life-threatening for both humans and animals and require emergency treatment.

• Dog bites can cause rabies in both people and animals.

Introduction

If left alone, curious animals are likely to be bitten by a variety of insects. Bite severity varies by animal species. Typically, stings and bites are painful and dangerous. It can be life-threatening in certain situations.