AVMA video promotes animal welfare policy—
Pain control measures for cattle recommended Schaumburg, IL — The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has released a new video promoting its policy on how to reduce pain for cattle during a common surgical procedure—dehorning.
Many breeds of cattle have horns, which are often removed early in life to protect other animals and farmers from injury. The AVMA policy and this informational video offer guidance to help make this procedure as comfortable as possible for animals.
"The AVMA provides up-to-date and accurate information about ensuring good animal welfare. Videos like this one help us get that information to more people," explains Dr. Cia Johnson of the AVMA Animal Welfare Division, who appears in the video. "America has more than 96 million head of cattle, so—although not widely known—this is a common procedure. The AVMA Animal Welfare Committee uses the latest scientific research available and practical experience to recommend policy for the Association. Research has shown that local anesthesia can be used to reduce the pain experienced by animals during dehorning."
AVMA policy recommends that, to reduce discomfort for the animal, dehorning be done at the earliest age practicable and that consideration be given to the use of local anesthetics (e.g., lidocaine) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents for pain control.
The new video demonstrates the use of local anesthetic and disbudding (a dehorning technique applied to young calves), and helps educate farmers and the general public about how pain management can improve an animals' welfare.
To see the entire video, please visit YouTube. Journalists are also encouraged to download and use the video from the AVMA Media Library at: http://www.avmamedia.org/detail.asp?sid=319&NAME=AVMA's_new_policy_on_pain_control_for_dehorning. To get an embed code for the video to post it on a website or Facebook page, please contact Tom McPheron. For more information, please visit www.avma.org.
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The AVMA, founded in 1863, is one of the oldest and largest veterinary medical organizations in the world. More than 80,000 member veterinarians worldwide are engaged in a wide variety of professional activities.
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