Doi:10.1016/j.rvsc.2004.11.013

Research in Veterinary Science 79 (2005) 239–244 Effect of the analgesic butorphanol on activity behaviour a Division of Evolutionary Ecology, Department of Biology, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland b Centre for Proper Housing: Poultry and Rabbits, Swiss Federal Veterinary Office, Burgerweg 22, 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland During fattening, the bodyweight of modern broad-breasted turkeys increases considerably within a very short space of time. In particular, the breast muscles increase disproportionately. This leads to a disadvantageous distribution in weight, and as a conse-quence, to a disturbed leg position and skeletal deformations like antitrochanteric degeneration, tibial dyschondroplasia, bending,twisting and rotation of the tibia, osteochondrosis, osteomyelitis, rickets, and epiphyseolysis of the femoral head increases. Thiscases of degenerative joint disease cause severe pain in humans and there are indications that this is also true for turkeys. The pur-pose of this study was to determine if behaviour indicative of such pain in turkeys of the B.U.T. Big 6 breeding line could be atten-uated by administering a quick-acting analgesic, butorphanol. Twelve pairs of turkeys were tested at the ages of 7 and 12 weeks. Onebird in each pair received an analgesic opioid injection, while the other one received a control injection of physiologically balancedsaline solution. The time the birds spent putting weight on their legs, i.e., ÔwalkingÕ and ÔstandingÕ and the distance covered by thebirds were recorded during the 30 min periods before and after the application of the drug. At week seven the treated birds spentsignificantly more time putting weight on their legs than control birds. At week 12, the same tendency was observed. No significantdifferences were found in the distances covered by the animals.
It is concluded that fattening turkeys reduce the time they are putting weight on their legs because these behaviours may be asso- ciated with pain.
Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Turkeys; Analgesic; Butorphanol; Pain; Activity; Leg disorders male turkeys is now more than 30 kg ().
Over the last 20 years fattening turkeys have been se- The disproportional increase of the breast muscle lected intensively for body weight gain and food conver- leads to a physiologically unbalanced weight distribution and to a modification of motion sequences. Bones and simultaneous optimisation of the mixture of feed, a strong increase in the amount of consumable meat, in particular consequence, the leg position of the turkey changes and the frequency of skeletal problems like antitrochanteric ). The weight of unselected adult male turkeys is about 8 kg whereas the weight of broad-breasted adult plasia (bending, twisting androtation of the tibia (), osteo- * Corresponding author. Present address: Centre for Proper Housing: Poultry and Rabbits, Burgerweg 22, CH-3052 Zollikofen.
) and epiphyseolysis of the femoral head ( Tel.: +41 31 915 35 19; fax: +41 31 915 35 14.
0034-5288/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.rvsc.2004.11.013 T. Buchwalder, B. Huber-Eicher / Research in Veterinary Science 79 (2005) 239–244 In recent years a considerable number of investigations on fattening turkeys reported very high incidences of Most of the investigations describe relatively profen, methylprednisolone or betamethasone) showed more activity than control birds treated with physiologi- cal saline. All of the administered analgesics reduce pain within a few days via their action on inflammatory pro- dyschondroplasia peaks at 12 weeks of age. At this age, cesses. The purpose of the present study was to determine 79% of the toms and 66% of the hens of a heavy breeding if behaviour indicative of pain in relation to the locomo- tor system in turkeys of the B.U.T. Big 6 breeding line and 89% of the toms and 74% of the hens of a Goubin could also be attenuated by administering a quick-acting analgesic, butorphanol. The opioid butorphanol has age, examination of the even heavier B.U.T. T9 and been used as analgesic since 1978, in both human medical Big 6 strains revealed incidences of tibial dyschondropla- science as well as in veterinary medicine ( In an other study antitrochanteric degeneration were present in the hip joints of all of 70 examined adult tur- a flock of 17-week-old turkeys of the heavy Hybrid Tur- recommended non-anti-inflammatory and non-anaes- key line, 98% of the birds showed an abnormal gait ( thetic analgesic agent for treatments of pain in birds disorders among male breeding turkeys range from effects of Butorphanol may be depression of the cardio- 90% to 100% and all birds showed reluctant walking vascular system and of the spontaneous respiratory activ- ity and cough, alteration in bronchomotor tone, (27–34 weeks) all female turkeys of a heavy breeding line gastrointestinal secretory and motor activity and bladder sphincter activity, stimulation of the emetic centre, miosis Prevalence of antitrochanteric degeneration in large white mail-line turkeys (B.U.T. – M5) was 81% at 54 studied hybrids were very seriously affected by degenera- tion with other components like Medetomidine it was used as an effective analgesic sedative ( In domestic animals and human beings degenerative ). The behavioural activity of birds receiving joint diseases cause severe and chronic pain, especially analgesic injections was compared with that of birds receiving control injections. We hypothesise that if the By analogy and homology, we have to expect that birds time heavy fattening turkeys spend putting weight on with similar joint conditions experience comparable pain their leg joints is limited by pain, then they should increase this time when given an effective analgesic.
However, until now little research has been conductedto assess pain in birds ). As the sen- sation of pain cannot be measured directly, behaviouralchanges as well as physiological responses are still the 32 non-beak-trimmed turkeys of unknown sex of the B.U.T. Big 6 breeding line were purchased from a com- mercial breeder at five weeks of age. The birds were marked individually with coloured leg bands and ran- domly assigned to four groups of eight individuals. The fects on the behaviour of humans and animals ( groups were then housed in identical pens (4.9 m2), sepa- ), but in birds, behavioural changes as reactions rated by wire mesh and by solid walls made of plywood up to pain are subtle, such as slight alteration in posture, to a height of one metre. The pens were littered with wood changes of perching position, decrease in appetite or a shavings and straw and contained a suspended bell-drin- ker (diameter 40 cm), a feeder (diameter 50 cm), a straw bale and a perch (180 cm, height 60 cm). Temperature One of the assessment methods commonly used was maintained between 15 and 20 °C. Artificial light in evaluating pain is to measure behaviour in the presence was provided from 0600 to 2000 h with a 15 min twilight phase at the beginning and the end of the investigations on pain related behaviour due to leg weak- day. Light intensity at the height of the animals was 30 lx.
T. Buchwalder, B. Huber-Eicher / Research in Veterinary Science 79 (2005) 239–244 the lines marked on the foil were then measured witha scroller for distance measurements on geographic As it turned out the four groups were composed of 25 males and 7 females. In each group of eight birds, threepairs of birds with similar bodyweight (max. 15% differ- ence) were chosen as test pairs (sex-independently). Pairswere tested twice (weeks 7 and 12). Tests took three days The effect of group affiliation was verified by analysis to complete, with four pairs tested (one from each effects were detected, neither in week seven nor in week The birds in a test pair were individually marked on 12, all test pairs were treated as independent observa- their backs with black hair spray and brought into a sep- tional units. For the behavioural measurements and arate experimental pen (4.9 m2) containing a suspended for the distances covered, the ratio between the test bell-drinker. After 25 min of habituation, behaviour and and control bird in a pair was calculated. The ratios be- movements of the animals were observed and addition- fore and after application of the drug were then com- ally recorded on video for 30 min. The drug was then pared by means of Wilcoxon signed ranks test for administered. One bird received an intramuscular injec- tion of the analgesic Morphasol, a commercial prepara- in week 7 the control bird lay one the floor for the whole tion containing the active ingredient butorphanol observation time after the treatment and the ratio of this (0.5 mg/kg), a synthetic opioid which reduces pain via test pair could therefore not be calculated. All tests are two sided and alpha level was set to 5%.
), while the other bird received a similar volumeof physiologically balanced saline solution (control) intothe breast muscle ( Control birds lay on the floor for more than half of among different studies (0.1–4 mg/kg; the observation time (965 s out of 1800 s) in week 7, and for almost two thirds of the observation time At seven weeks of age, turkeys treated with analgesic Butorphanol is a more efficacious analgesic in birds than spent significantly more time putting weight on their legs than control birds (Wilcoxon signed ranks test for matched pairs, N = 11, T = 7, P = 0.02, In week 12 the animals tended to show a similar reaction, how- ). To avoid too strong depressive and sedative ef- ever, the difference did not reach statistical significance fects we chose the relatively low dose rate of 0.5 mg/kg of butorphanol. The maximum concentration of butor- During the observation time, control birds covered phanol in the blood occurs 30–60 min after injection an average distance of 27.5 m (min. 0.1 m, max.
70.0 m) and 11.9 m (min. 2.3 m, max. 66.8 m) in weeks ). Therefore, the second observation session with 7 and 12, respectively. The ratio of the distances covered behavioural observations and video recording lasting by treated and control birds before and after the appli- 30 min, started 45 min after the application of the drug.
cation of the analgesic was not significantly different,neither in week seven nor in week 12 (Wilcoxon signed ranks test for matched pairs, N = 12; week 7: T = 39,P = 1; week 12: T = 34, P = 0.7; ).
Simultaneous observations of both animals were car- ried out from a central corridor. Using the programÔObserverÕ (Noldus Information Technology, Wagenin- gen NL) the duration of two mutually exclusive behav-ioural categories were recorded: behaviour while no The analgesic Butorphanol had the expected effect.
body weight rests on the joints of the legs (sitting or ly- Seven-weeks-old broad-breasted fattening turkeys trea- ing) and behaviour while weight is put on the joints ted with the analgesic put weight on their legs signifi- (standing or walking). Additionally, the distance cov- cantly longer than control animals. A tendency ered by the birds during the observation period was re- (P = 0.07) for a similar effect was found in week 12.
corded transmitting the movements of the birds, i.e., the The fact that 7 and 12 weeks old birds got the same way covered by the birds, with a permanent marker dose of the analgesic relatively to their body weight from the video screen to a plastic foil. The length of (and not relatively to the seriousness of their lesions) T. Buchwalder, B. Huber-Eicher / Research in Veterinary Science 79 (2005) 239–244 tory activity and cough but no increase in general activ- before treatment
after treatment
treated and the control birds might therefore have beeneven larger than observed. Butorphanol is known to have a pain-reducing effect in animals and man and wetherefore conclude from our results, that fattening tur- keys reduce the time they are active, i.e., standing andwalking because these behaviours are associated with pain. Taking into account the many studies reportingvery high prevalence of up to 100% of gait problemsand degenerative joint diseases in fattening turkeys, it seems probable that the pain indicated by the observedbehavioural changes is caused by pathological alteration of the locomotor system of the legs. Foot pad dermatitisas a source of pain can be excluded as the foot pads of the tested animals were monitored in weeks 7 and 12 but no lesions nor ulcerations were observed.
Fig. 1. Ratio between the durations of time that treated birds and No significant effect of the analgesic on the distance control birds put weight on their legs, both before and after the covered by the birds was detected. Turkeys are group application of an analgesic at 7 and 12 weeks of age. Error bars living birds, their behaviour is synchronised within the group and we may expect a high moti-vation in individual birds to stay together with groupmembers. This might have led to a levelling of the dis- before treatment
tances covered by the test and the control bird. How- after treatment
ever, it could also be, that walking was less affected by the analgesic than standing, meaning that walking would be less painful for the birds. Unfortunately, our data does not allow further investigation of this ques- tion, but it would be interesting and worthwhile to study such possible differences in pain sensation when Ôwalk-ingÕ or ÔstandingÕ using an experimental approach.
This work was supported by a Grant (No. 2.99.07) from the Federal Veterinary Office. We thank colleagues at the Centre for Proper Housing: Poultry and Rabbits, and the staff of the Swiss Poultry Husbandry School fortheir cooperation. The experiment reported here is part of a dissertation from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Fig. 2. Ratio between the distances covered by the treated and the the University of Berne, Switzerland.
control birds, before and after treatment at 7 and 12 weeks of age.
Error bars represent standard deviations.
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