Patience is a virtue when it comes to administering medications to food-producing animals.
“Be patient. Once you’ve started treating, and it depends a little bit on what drug, but with an antibiotic once you start treating, that antibiotic usually needs at least 24, if not 36 to 48 hours before you decide it is not working,” said Fabienne Uehlinger from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.
Uehlinger spoke about the appropriate use of medications during the Healthy Sheep and Goat Workshop at the U of S in April.
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The veterinarian said her patience can sometimes be tested when producers call to say drugs they have administered the day before are not working and wonder about switching medications.
“Producers often expect a miracle response to drugs. You have to be patient. I think that’s a problem for all of us. We sort of want an immediate cure. It’s not happening. Drugs need time to work.”
Other factors to consider are correct timing and duration. Uehlinger said producers shouldn’t wait to use medications until it’s too late and they shouldn’t use a medication when it’s not needed.
“We need to strike a balance between not waiting too long, but also not just treating because the animal may seem off a little bit. That’s a difficult one. It comes with experience,” she said.
Uehlinger said drugs are both the producer’s and veterinarian’s responsibility.
However, most producers treat their own animals, particularly with minor livestock species such as sheep and goats.
Gordon Schroeder, president of the Saskatchewan Sheep Development Board, said his organization is against ad-hoc drug use. He expressed concerns that there are not enough large animal veterinarians to handle additional regulations and needs of producers.
“You need a veterinarian to give you that antibiotic drug. If the vet-client relationship is not there, nor do they have time to develop that, what is the alternative?”
The ability for vets to use a full range of medicines in food-producing animals is essential.
“So we as veterinarians (in Canada) can actually decide that in specific circumstances we want to use a drug in a different way than what it says on the label. We have that privilege for a lot of the drugs,” Uehlinger said.
“If we’re not careful with that sort of willy-nilly use of it, just because it’s convenient, then that can be taken away from us.
“I just don’t know whether they (producers) always understand some of the implications that routine and blind management practices have.”
