OBJECTIVE: To describe the diagnosis, management, and outcome of a dog with a right distal radial osteochondroma that penetrated the ulna, causing expansile lysis and fracture.
METHODS: A 9-month-old entire female German Shorthaired Pointer.
UNASSIGNED: The dog had a 2-month history of weight-bearing lameness of the right forelimb and a 2-week history of a progressively enlarging, firm swelling on the distolateral antebrachium. Computed tomography was used to characterize the lesion and for surgical planning.
RESULTS: A distal ulnar ostectomy removed the affected ulnar segment, and the radial osteochondroma was excised with rongeurs. The dog was sound at 2, 16, and 45 weeks postoperatively. Radiographs at 45 weeks showed a persistent ulnar ostectomy gap with irregular but smoothly marginated edges and focal cortical irregularity at the site of radial osteochondroma excision. There was no evidence of osteochondroma recurrence.
CONCLUSIONS: This is a newly recognized presentation of an osteochondroma penetrating the cortex of an adjacent bone in a dog resulting in expansile lysis and cortical fracture. Computed tomography was important in diagnosis and surgical planning, and surgical treatment was successful in removing the osteochondroma and ulnar lesion. This case provides long-term radiographic and clinical follow-up after osteochondroma excision and contributes to the current knowledge on prognosis following osteochondroma excision in dogs.

UNASSIGNED: Claw lesions significantly contribute to lameness, greatly affecting sow welfare. This study investigated different factors that would impact the severity of claw lesions in the sows of Brazilian commercial herds.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 129 herds (n = 12,364 sows) were included in the study. Herds were in the Midwest, Southeast, or South regions of Brazil. Inventory sizes were stratified into 250-810 sows, 811-1,300 sows, 1,301-3,000 sows, and 3,001-10,000 sows. Herds belonged to Cooperative (Coop), Integrator, or Independent structures. The herd management was conducted either maintaining breeds from stock on-site (internal), or through purchase of commercially available genetics (external). Herds adopted either individual crates or group housing during gestation. Within each farm, one randomly selected group of sows was scored by the same evaluator (two independent experts evaluated a total of 129 herds) from 0 (none) to 3 (severe) for heel overgrowth and erosion (HOE), heel-sole crack (HSC), separation along the white line (WL), horizontal (CHW) and vertical (CVW) wall cracks, and overgrown toes (T), or dewclaws (DC) in the hind legs after parturition. The study assessed differences and similarities between herds using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC) analysis. The effects of factors (i.e., production structure, management, housing during gestation, and region) were assessed using the partial least squares method (PLS).
UNASSIGNED: Heel overgrowth and erosion had the highest prevalence, followed by WL and CHW, while the lowest scores were observed for T, DC, and CVW. Herds were grouped in three clusters (i.e., C1, C2, and C3). Heel overgrowth and erosion, HSC, WL, CHW, CVW, and T were decreased by 17, 25, 11, 25, 21, and 17%, respectively, in C3 compared to C1 and 2 combined. Independent structure increased the L-Index in all three clusters. Furthermore, individual housing increased the L-Index regardless of the cluster. The results suggest that shifting toward larger, more technologically advanced herds could potentially benefit claw health. Additionally, adopting group gestation housing appears to mitigate the adverse effects on claw health, although further validation is necessary, as Brazil has only recently transitioned from individual housing practices.

BACKGROUND: Walking ability is a highly important animal-based indicator of welfare in broilers that warrants monitoring across commercial production.
METHODS: A review of the technical and scientific literature on existing methods for assessing walking ability in broilers was conducted, and the reliability, validity and feasibility of the different methods were assessed when relevant information was available.
RESULTS: Visual gait scoring has high validity, minimal equipment needs and is relatively quick to perform; however, this method is subjective and requires extensive training. Due to this, more objective tests, such as the latency to lie test, have been developed, although more validation of these tests is required. Other identified methods, such as obstacle courses, the rotarod test and kinetic and kinematic approaches, require considerable amounts of equipment, making them impractical for use during on-farm inspections. Automated methods that rely on movement or activity data have potential for future development but currently lack the resolution of traditional gait scoring and require equipment such as cameras or accelerometers.
CONCLUSIONS: Objective, seemingly valid, repeatable and feasible options exist for the assessment of walking ability that would facilitate the monitoring of commercial broiler welfare; however, more validation of these methods is required, especially in commercial farm settings.

UNASSIGNED: A 9-year-old male castrated domestic shorthair cat was presented with a 2-week history of acute, progressive left pelvic limb lameness. Gait evaluation revealed a grade 3/5 left pelvic limb lameness with no apparent orthopedic cause for the lameness based on orthopedic examination or radiographs. The neurological examination was otherwise normal. MRI revealed a left-sided L6-7 far lateral intervertebral disc extrusion with possible secondary neuritis of the L6 spinal nerve. A left-sided L6-7 foraminotomy was performed to remove the extruded disc material and provide additional space for the significantly enlarged nerve root. An L6-7 fenestration was also performed. The patient made an excellent recovery with near-complete resolution of lameness at 26 days postoperatively.
UNASSIGNED: This case report contributes to the growing body of literature on lateral intervertebral disc extrusion as an etiological factor in pelvic limb lameness in cats, particularly when neurological deficits are absent. Furthermore, the case report highlights the diagnostic utility of cross-sectional advanced imaging for cats with lameness for which an orthopedic or radiographic cause cannot be identified. Finally, this case underscores the efficacy of surgical intervention as a treatment option for cats with lumbar far lateral intervertebral disc extrusions that do not improve with medical management alone. This finding could have implications for future surgical approaches in cats with similar findings.

Lameness in dairy cows is a clinical sign resulting from multiple diseases that affects animal welfare. The aim of this study was to evaluate the consistency of lameness prevalence estimations between farm managers and locomotion scoring conducted by trained observers, in confined and grazing dairy systems. The study was conducted on 18 dairy farms in Argentina. The locomotion of the lactating cows was scored by trained observers using a four-point visual scale from 0 to 3. Farm managers were interviewed about the number of lame cows in the herd. The consistency of lameness prevalence detected by the farm manager and the observers was assessed by computing the Lin\'s concordance and correlation coefficient. The comparison of grazing systems versus confined systems on lameness prevalence was analyzed using a generalized mixed model, assuming a binomial distribution for the errors. On average, farm managers estimated a lower prevalence of lameness (p < 0.01) compared with the trained observers; 2.24% and 7.06%, respectively. Based on the estimations from trained observers, we could not detect differences (p = 0.19) in lameness prevalence between confined and grazing systems.

Since 2004, the prevalence of lameness in sheep flocks in England has reduced as farmers have adopted evidence-based management practices to control lameness. In 2011, the Farm Animal Welfare Council proposed a target prevalence of <2% lameness in sheep by 2021. This study investigated whether that target had been achieved and determined which practices were associated with prevalence of lameness. A postal questionnaire was sent to 1000 randomly selected farmers to investigate the prevalence of lameness and management practices in 2022. The geometric mean prevalence of lameness was <2% in ewes and lambs, but the median was 3%; approximately 26% flocks had <2% lameness. Data were analysed using robust variable selection with multivariable linear models. Farmers that quarantined ewes for ≥3 weeks and did not use foot bathing or foot trimming to prevent lameness had 40-50% lower prevalence of lameness than those not using these practices. Fewer farmers (19.0%) were always using parenteral antimicrobials to treat footrot, an effective practice, than in previous research (49.7%). We conclude that the target of <2% lameness in England has been achieved by 26% of farmers, and further work is required for more farmers to follow the evidence-based management practices to minimise lameness.

The aim of this study was to identify with a high level of confidence metabolites previously identified as predictors of lameness and understand their biological relevance by carrying out pathway analyses. For the dairy cattle sector, lameness is a major challenge with a large impact on animal welfare and farm economics. Understanding metabolic alterations during the transition period associated with lameness before the appearance of clinical signs may allow its early detection and risk prevention. The annotation with high confidence of metabolite predictors of lameness and the understanding of interactions between metabolism and immunity are crucial for a better understanding of this condition. Using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) with authentic standards to increase confidence in the putative annotations of metabolites previously determined as predictive for lameness in transition dairy cows, it was possible to identify cresol, valproic acid, and gluconolactone as L1, L2, and L1, respectively which are the highest levels of confidence in identification. The metabolite set enrichment analysis of biological pathways in which predictors of lameness are involved identified six significant pathways (p < 0.05). In comparison, over-representation analysis and topology analysis identified two significant pathways (p < 0.05). Overall, our LC-MS/MS analysis proved to be adequate to confidently identify metabolites in urine samples previously found to be predictive of lameness, and understand their potential biological relevance, despite the challenges of metabolite identification and pathway analysis when performing untargeted metabolomics. This approach shows potential as a reliable method to identify biomarkers that can be used in the future to predict the risk of lameness before calving. Validation with a larger cohort is required to assess the generalization of these findings.

BACKGROUND: Canine coxofemoral joint osteoarthritis is a common, painful and debilitating condition. The objective of this study was to evaluate if any measurable changes in pain or lameness occurred in this patient group immediately after a single treatment with pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. Eight dogs with coxofemoral joint osteoarthritis presenting with signs of pain and lameness were prospectively recruited to this randomised, controlled, double blinded, cross-over study. Subjects attended the research facility on two occasions for one active and one placebo treatment with pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. The immediate effect of one pulsed electromagnetic field therapy treatment on pain and lameness was measured subjectively with the Helsinki Chronic Pain Index and Visual Analogue Scale and objectively using a pressure sensitive walkway.
RESULTS: A statistically significant difference (P = 0.03) for change in stride length in the affected limb was recorded for subjects between the active and placebo treatments with pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. Within the active treatment results, there was a statistically significant change in the measurement for reach (P = 0.04) and stride length (P = 0.047) which got shorter in the affected limb post treatment. For the subjective outcome measures, there was no statistically significant difference between the active and placebo treatments for the evening of the treatment day or the next morning from pre-treatment values. Within the placebo treatment results a statistically significant change (improvement) was detected in Visual Analogue Score (P = 0.03) between pre-treatment and the next morning values.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study do not show demonstrable improvement in owner assessed pain levels or temporospatial performance in dogs with coxofemoral joint osteoarthritis immediately after a single application of pulsed electromagnetic field therapy.

In order to determine the possibility of using infrared thermography (IRT) in preventing lameness in dairy cows, the aim of this study was to evaluate temperature variations depending on the lesion presence, measurement points and leg position. The study used about 3 000 IRT records from 60 Holstein cows housed in a free-stall barn. Surface temperature measurements were taken at two regions of the hooves: the region of the coronary band, and the region of the skin up to 2 cm above the coronary band. A highly significant (P = 0.004; 0.006, P < 0.01) difference in temperature was observed between healthy and diseased legs at both measurement points. Additionally, a significant (P = 0.029; 0.037; 0.045; 0.012; 0.018, P < 0.05) or highly significant (P = 0.004; 0.006, P < 0.01) difference in temperature values between the front and rear legs was established for both measurement points, i.e., the coronary band and the skin. Despite confirming the potential applicability of infrared thermography in the detection of lameness, it is crucial to consider the significant influences of the environmental factors, impurities, and animal-related factors.

Contagious ovine digital dermatitis (CODD) causes a severe, infectious foot disease and lameness of sheep, is common within the UK and is now also emerging in other countries. As well as causing severe animal welfare issues, huge economic losses emerge from the disease due to weight loss/lack of weight gain, and veterinary treatments. CODD lesion progress is measured, with a scoring system from 1 (early lesions) to 5 (healed). Here, using samples from an experimental flock infected by natural means, samples were taken from CODD stage 5 lesions, post treatment, and subjected to bacterial isolation and MLST using previously published methods. Sequences were compared to others from the same flock, and those from previous studies. All CODD 5 lesions produced viable Treponema spp. bacteria. High levels of variation of bacteria were seen, with 12 sequence types (STs) for T. medium phylogroup (11 new), 15 STs for T. phagedenis phylogroup (9 new) and six T. pedis STs, of which two were new. This study shows that CODD stage 5 lesions still contain viable bacteria, representing all three known pathogenic Treponema spp. phylogroups, and these may thus play a role in disease transmission and epidemiology despite appearing healed after treatment. The high level CODD treponeme variability within an infected flock where sheep were bought from different sources, as might occur in common agricultural practice, may suggest reasons as to why the bacterial disease is difficult to treat, control and eradicate, and adds further complexity to the polybacterial pathogenesis of these lesions.