University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Work
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      Practical alternatives for managing castration pain in piglets

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      DAVIS-THESIS-2021.pdf (8.120Mb)
      Date
      2021-09-29
      Author
      Davis, Erin
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      Surgical castration of piglets is a painful procedure used to reduce aggression, sexual behaviours, and boar taint, and is often completed on young piglets. Recent requirements in Canada state that an analgesic must be administered to control the pain of the procedure. The thesis objectives were to evaluate the effects of age and timing of analgesic administration on piglets’ response to castration. Three-day-old PIC Landrace x Large White male piglets were enrolled in study 1 or 2. For study 1, piglets were split into two groups: handling chute and average daily gain (ADG, n=115) or serum cortisol and pen behaviour (n=96), and assigned within litter to six treatments: 1) castration with ketoprofen at 3 days old (YK, n=35), 2) castration with ketoprofen at 10 days old (OK, n=36), 3) castration at 3 days old (YC, n=35), 4) castration at 10 days old (OC, n=35), 5) sham castration at 3 days old (YS, n=35), and 6) sham castration at 10 days old (n=35). From the ages of 9 to 13 days old, older piglets had a higher ADG than younger piglets (0.270.01 kg/day vs. 0.250.01 kg/day respectively, LSMSEM; P<0.05). Serum cortisol concentration 24 hours after treatment was higher in young piglets than old piglets (77.89.2 nmol/L vs. 36.18.9 nmol/L respectively, P<0.05). Older piglets were observed tail wagging at a higher frequency 24 and 25 hours after castration than younger piglets (P<0.05). For study 2, piglets were split into two groups: handling chute (n=76) or serum cortisol and pen behaviour (n=103) and assigned within litter to five treatments: 1) castration with ketoprofen one hour prior (HK, n=37), 2) sham castration with saline one hour prior (HS, n=34), 3) castration with ketoprofen immediately prior (IK, n=37), 4) sham castration with saline immediately prior (IS, n=35), and 5) castration with saline immediately prior (CA, n=36). HK had lower cortisol concentrations than CA, IK, and IS 45 minutes after treatment (90.226.4 nmol/L vs. 206.726.4 nmol/L, 147.525.6 nmol/L, 158.026.4 nmol/L respectively, P<0.05). These studies provide evidence that providing ketoprofen one hour before castration reduces cortisol concentrations and is beneficial to piglet welfare. More research is needed to compare piglet pain responses when castrated at different ages.
      Degree
      Master of Science (M.Sc.)
      Department
      Large Animal Clinical Sciences
      Program
      Large Animal Clinical Sciences
      Supervisor
      Seddon, Yolande; Brown, Jennifer
      Committee
      Duke, Tanya; Harding, John; Millman, Suzanne
      Copyright Date
      October 2021
      URI
      https://hdl.handle.net/10388/13631
      Subject
      piglet
      castration
      pain
      behaviour
      ethology
      ketoprofen
      analgesia
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy