Subclinical ketosis

in dairy cattle –
the silent profit robber
by Dr Abdülkerim Deniz, Bayer Postpartum Blood BHB Milk loss P (≥1,800µmol/L) in the first week of
Animal Health, Leverkusen, period µmol/L kg/day lactation is associated with milk loss
Germany. of 300kg/cow for the entire lacta-
Week 1 1200 1.22 <0.05 tion. Simililarly, Gustafsson et al.
1400 1.88 <0.01

S
uccessful calving, healthy meta-
bolic functions postpartum and
good milk performance in lac-
tation depend highly on the transi-
tion period (three weeks before and
after calving) of dairy cows where
they should be able to manage
energy intake and overcome nega-
tive energy balance.
Subclinical ketosis is one of the
metabolic diseases associated with
negative energy balance during the
transition period. Subclinical ketosis
is manifested by the elevated BHB
(beta-hydroxybutyrate) concentra-
tion in blood, urine and milk in dairy
cattle, especially in the first 2-3
weeks after calving. The prevalence
of subclinical ketosis is around 9-
34% in dairy cattle farms. According
to Duffield (2000), subclinical ketosis
may start at serum BHB above
1,000µmol/L. However, at exactly
what level individual cows will
express clinical signs are extremely
variable.
Furthermore, there are studies in
which the cut off value is expressed
as 1,200µmol/L.
Subclinical ketosis causes losses
through decreased milk production
and association with periparturient
diseases. Serum BHB concentrations
(1993) reported a loss of 328kg milk
1600 1.76 <0.05 (fat corrected milk) due to high
1800 1.71 <0.05 blood BHB concentration.
Week 2 1400 1.39 <0.05 As Leblanc (2010) summarised;
1600 1.81 <0.05 subclinical ketosis in the first or sec-
1800 2.29 <0.01 ond week after calving is associated
2000 3.30 <0.001 with:
l3-8 times increased risk of left dis-
Table 1. Milk loss due to subclinical ketosis (elevated blood BHB) placement of abomasum.
in first and second week postpartum in dairy cattle. lThree times greater risk of metritis
when serum BHB in the week one
Groups n Day 0-1 Day 3-10 postpartum was >1,200µmol/L.
l4-6 times increased risk of clinical
Placebo 228 497 (384-646) 756 (533-1,263) ketosis.
Catosal 244 500 (376-674) 683 (512-956) lIncreased probability of subclinical
endometritis at week four postpar-
p >0.05 <0.05 tum, increased duration and severity
of mastitis.
Table 2. Median (interquartile range) serum BHB concentrations
µmol/L) at baseline (day 0-1) and follow-up (day 3-10) sample collec-
All these above indicate that sub-
(µ
tions in mature cows (lactations ≥ 3) randomly assigned to receive
clinical ketosis is a very important
metabolic disease which can impact
either placebo or Catosal.
production in dairy cattle farms. It is
of 1,200µmol/l or above in the first one and week two postpartum was mostly underestimated and overseen.
week following calving were associ- 1,400µmol/L of BHBA.
ated with increased risks of subse- Impacts on milk yield begin at BHB
quent abomasal displacement and ≥1,200µmol/l for week one post- Recent studies
metritis, whereas the critical BHB partum and ≥1,400µmol/L for week
threshold in the second week post- two postpartum. Duffield et al. Catosal is a metabolic stimulant and
partum for the risk of abomasal dis- (2009) has summarised the impact energising product, containing
placement was set at ≥1,800µmol/l. of elevated blood BHB on milk pro- butafosfan and vitamin B12. It has
The best threshold for predicting duction in first and second week been widely used for a decade in
subsequent risk of clinical ketosis postpartum in Table 1. food producing animals for the pre-
from serum obtained during week Having increased blood BHB Continued on page 9

Fig. 1. Rate of healthy animals (BHB <100µµmol/L in milk) on 5 and 10 Fig. 2. Effect of different dosage of Catosal on blood BHB (baseline
days after treatment with Catosal (the difference is significant on day change). On day 7 and 10 post-treatment the difference between con-
10, p<0.05). trol and treatment groups is significant (p<0.05).

45 40
Control Catosal 5
40
% baseline change of blood BHB

Catosal 20 Catosal 10
35
Control
Healthy animals (%)

30 0

25
-20
20
15 -40

10
-60
5
0 -80
Before Day Day
Day 5 Day 10 treatment 7 15

International Dairy Topics — Volume 10 Number 6 7

 1000 3.0
Control group
900
Catosal group

BHB concentration (mmol/L)

2.5
800
Milk yield in 30 days (kg)

700 2.0
600
500 1.5
400
1.0
300
200 0.5
100
0 0.0
Catosal 5 Catosal 10 Control Pre-operative 24 hours later 48 hours later 72 hours later

Fig. 3. Effect of Catosal in cows with subclinical ketosis on 30-day milk Fig. 4. Effect of Catosal pre-treatment just before surgical operation
yield (Sahal et al. 2011). of LAD on blood BHB concentration (Fürll et al .2006).

Continued from page 7 cows based on the concentration of The dosage 10ml/100kg of 5ml/100kg. A marked decrease in
vention and supportive treatment of BHB in the milk (<100µmol/L) and Catosal looked better to decrease blood BHB was observed in Catosal
metabolic and reproductive dis- milk production increased signifi- blood BHB on days 7 and 15 post- group compared to control and
eases. cantly within 10 days. treatment (more than 60% decrease generics (Fig. 5).
A recent study on the mode of On day 10, mean milk production from baseline). Fig. 2 presents the The conception rate of cows
action of Catosal revealed that it was 3.4 litres higher in the group change of blood BHB from baseline treated with Catosal was significantly
regulates the ACSL1 enzyme which treated with Catosal than in the after treatments. higher than control group and generic
is involved in fatty acid oxidation in untreated group. Total milk yield for 30 day in 3 in the first insemination (Fig. 6).
the liver. A lot of evidence has been The prevalence of subclinical keto- Catosal 5, Catosal 10 and control
found on the efficacy of Catosal in sis (BHB ≥200µmol/L milk) in the group was 863, 779 and 640kg
controlling subclinical ketosis in dairy control group was 48.6%, while it respectively (Fig. 3). The difference Conclusion
cows. was only 23.8% in the Catosal treat- between Catosal 5 and control
Rollin et al. (2010) studied the ment group. (p<0.01) and Catosal 10 and control Subclinical ketosis is an economically
effect of two treatments with Sahal et al. (2011) compared the group (p<0.05) was significant. important disease and should not be
Catosal (25ml/cow, subcuta- effect of different dosages of Catosal The effect of Catosal treatment in underestimated since it has produc-
neously) at calving and 24 hours in subclinical ketosis. Cattle (n=52) cows that underwent the operation tion and reproduction aspects.
later in over 1,000 primiparous and postpartum between first and sec- of left abomasal displacement (LAD) Milk production loss (around 300kg
multiparous dairy cattle in the USA. ond week were tested by Precision was studied by Fürll et al. (2006). per lactation), reproduction distur-
Treatment with Catosal decreased Xceed device on blood BHB con- Treatment of cows with 5ml Catosal bances (low conception rate,
the concentrations of BHB in the centration. Those who had blood for 100kg bw. intravenously Just two increased artificial insemination),
blood significantly (Table 2) and BHB of 1,000-≤ 3,000µmol/L with- hours before surgical operation of high risk for abomasum displace-
reduced the incidence of retained out clinical sign of ketosis were LAD controlled the blood BHB con- ment, metritis and mastitis and clini-
placenta in cows in the third lacta- included in the study. centration subsequently. cal ketosis are important economic
tion, normally classified as high risk One group (Catosal 5) was The blood BHB concentration consequences of subclinical ketosis
cows. treated with 5ml/100kg Catosal for increased in the control group ani- on dairy cattle farms.
Treatment of cows (n=79) with four days, another group (Catosal mals without treatment of Catosal The disease runs subclinically,
Catosal for five days at a dose of 10) was treated with 10ml/100kg 48 and 72 hours after the operation therefore it might be called the silent
25ml/animal by intramuscular Catosal for four days. Control group (Fig. 4). profit robber because of the impact
administration in the second week cows were treated with injectable Cows with elevated blood BHB on the profitability of dairy farms.
after calving to treat subclinical keto- water for the same days. concentration (>1,000µmol/L) Catosal, as a metabolic stimulant
sis (milk test >200µmol/l BHB) All treatments were conducted between one and two weeks post- containing butafosfan and vitamin
resulted in increased rates of healthy intramuscularly. Both dosages of partum (n=9-10 in each group) and B12, has been shown to be very
animals and milk production. Catosal were able to bring down without sign of ketosis were treated effective for the treatment of sub-
Fig. 1 presents the rate of healthy blood BHB significantly compared to with Catosal or Asian originated clinical ketosis in dairy cattle in dif-
animals after treatment with the control group on days 7 and 15 generics of Catosal for four days ferent studies that have been
Catosal. The prevalence of healthy post-treatment. intramuscularly at a dose of conducted worldwide. ■

Fig. 5. Baseline changes. Effect of Catosal and Asian originated gener-

ics (5ml/100kg intramuscular for four days) on the blood BHB concen- Fig. 6. Effect of Catosal and Asian originated generics on the concep-
tration in cows (Deniz et al. 2010). tion rate of cows with subclinical ketosis (Deniz et al. 2010).

0 90

-0.1 80
70
BHB (mmol/L)

-0.2
60
-0.3 Catosal 50
%

Generic 1
-0.4 40
Generic 2
Generic 3 30
-0.5
Control 20
-0.6
10
First treatment Day 21
Day 7 Day 14
day 0
Days after treatment initiation Catosal Generic 1 Generic 2 Generic 3 Control

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