Efficacy of non-antibiotic Repiderma spray for treatment of digital dermatitis in cows

Abstract

Digital dermatitis is a very painful multifactorial claw disease which can cause major economic loss and welfare problems. Therefore, it is of great importance there are treatments available which are low in costs and high in efficacy. In view of the resistance to antibiotics and any residues in milk or meat, non-antibiotic treatment is preferred. In this article a clinical trial is described with the aim of testing non-antibiotic spray to cure bovine digital dermatitis lesions. The trial is preformed at seven Dutch dairy farms between October and December 2013. Repiderma-spray® (Copper, zinc, aloe vera, alcohol, IntraCare BV, Netherlands) was used as non-antibiotic spray and chlortetracycline-spray, CTC® (chlorinetetracyclinehydrochloride®, Eurovet Animal Health BV, Netherlands), which is officially registered, as positive control. Claws were alternately treated with Repiderma® or CTC® following the manufacturer’s protocol and photographed and scored at day 0 and day 10. If there was no longer an M2 lesion at day 10, the claw was defined cured. The average cure rate of claws treated with Repiderma®-spray at day 10 was 89.15%.