Itchy Cattle                                             

You may have heard that cow scab had been diagnosed in the Scottish Boarders for the first time in thirty years and like me wondered where it could have come from. Cattle scab is caused by a psorioptic mite that will lead to intense itching along the back and tail of cattle. It is more than twenty years since we have seen the problem in Shropshire although in recent years from time to time it has occurred in South Wales and Yorkshire. The case in Scotland was discovered in a suckler cow and her calf that had recently been imported. So there is no reason why it should be able to escape from the holding it is on and get established on other farms. For some reason cattle scab responds better to pyrethrum, pour on drugs that are mainly used as fly repellants than the Ivomec type compounds that are used to control scab in sheep. The drug can be poured directly onto the lesions and it is usual to make two applications to destroy any eggs surviving in the skin as they hatch. The Scottish Agricultural College has been given a grant to fight psorioptic mange and will look at skin scrape samples for suspect cattle for no charge should you have any itchy cattle.         

Controversial Cull

Cattle Tuberculosis is seldom out of the headlines. This month there has been the report by the independent advisors about the badger cull. Just why they have taken so long to write their report only they know and it was inevitable that the whole process would be criticized. The stipulation was that badgers would only be shot if they were feeding in a particular area so it should come as no surprise that the numbers dispatched fell short of expectations and that some took longer than anticipated to die.

Cats and Tuberculosis  

The headlines this week concern nine cats from different households that were diagnosed with bovine tuberculosis at a Veterinary Practice in Newbury last year. Six of the cats lived within 250 meters of one another. Tuberculosis is not easy to diagnose in cats as initially it looks like an abscess which is a common condition as cats do like to fight if they are kept close together. Tuberculosis lesions tend not to heal as they do not respond to the antibiotics that we usually use. The infection can only be diagnosed when tissue samples are looked at under a microscope and can easily be missed.           

Skin Lesions                                          

It has long been recognized that cats will develop skin lesions that are caused by tuberculosis, but it is unusual to get so many cases in one small area. The exact way that cats become infected in unknown. It is speculated that they get the infection when hunting small rodents that have visited badger setts. The spoligotype of M bovis found in all the cats was the same as that found in both badgers and reactor cows in the area. The most likely explanation is that all of the cats were hunting infected rats and mice in a small area. As a result of these findings thirty nine people have been investigated and four were found to be suffering from the infection and are undergoing treatment. The majority of the cats succumbed to the infection and were euthanased. Three are still receiving treatment with a drug called rifampicin. There is controversy over treating tuberculosis in cats because of the continued risk to their owners and most people feel that rifampicin should be reserved for human use as treating other animals can encourage drug resistance. It seems wrong to me that the health of so many people has been put at risk because of a disease in wildlife that we could have conquered decades ago. It is good fortune that none of the cats came into contact with people that were undergoing treatments for cancer or were on immune suppressive drugs as there would be different headlines in the newspapers.                                       

 Deteriorating Situation                      

Whenever I hear about these incidents it alarms me that things could get so bad. Tuberculosis is a serious and challenging disease and it is wrong that people should be exposed to it because of our failure to control the infection in our resident wildlife. It must be very difficult to explain to cat owners that their beloved pet is infected with a zoonotic disease which it could have passed on to them and their children and has to be put to sleep to safeguard their health.                                                

Changes at the Malthouse                     

I have noticed the look of surprise when you visit the surgery now. Where have the drugs gone? Well there have been a few changes in the regulations as to what we can and cannot do since the practice was first established in Minsterley in 1952. Last month we had our first ever inspection from the Veterinary Medicine’s Directorate so we have be asked to make a few changes at the surgery It has always been convenient to both us and you to have drugs on display so that you can see what you need and we can see what needs to be re ordered. Apparently this is no longer allowed, it’s a bit like buying cigarettes, and prescription only medicines have to be hidden away out of sight now in case you might be tempted to buy something you don’t really need. If you really cannot remember what it is you have come to collect we can still let you have a quick look at our stock on the understanding that you will only buy the things that you intended to get.          Huskvac                                                      

 This year there has been a manufacturing problem with the Lungworm Vaccine, but it should be available again now. This is the oral vaccine that we give to calves before they first go out to grass to protect them against lungworm for effectively the rest of their lives. Hopefully the ground will dry up and the grass will start to grow strongly now so it is better to start with the vaccine fairly soon as they require two doses four weeks apart and should not go out to graze for two weeks after the second dose of  the vaccine.                       

Laboratory Closures                             

This week sees the closure of the first two Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories at Luddington and Preston with five more to follow in the next twelve months. Farmers that relied on these laboratories will have to travel to Shrewsbury now if they need a post mortem examination or disease investigation. The problem is our local laboratory is under staffed so the service they provide will inevitably suffer.  

Protecting the Food Chain                

There was talk that private laboratories would take over this work but few of them offer post mortems on even small animals and there are no signs of that changing. It is an expensive business to under take laboratory investigations on farm animals. The laboratories are there partly to support your farm business but also to protect the human food chain. Some diseases have little impact on you as they do not make your animals ill, but they will affect the products that you sell and it is wrong that the means to detect them are slowly being withdrawn and peoples health will be put at risk.                                                             

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