Foot rot is one of the most common reasons a cow-calf producer will treat a cow with antibiotics.
In 2019, Dr. Cheryl Waldner and co-workers at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon published a paper on antimicrobial use in western Canadian cow-calf herds in the Canadian Veterinary Journal. Lameness was the top reason given for administering antimicrobial drugs to cows or bulls.
Foot rot is also an important disease in feedlots. A recent study published by Dr. Jessica Davis-Unger and colleagues at the University of Calgary evaluated feedlot records on more than 660,000 head of cattle from 28 Alberta feedlots over 10 years. Lameness was the second most common cause of treating cattle with antimicrobials. In that dataset, about 4.4 percent of steer placements and 4.7 percent of heifer placements were treated for lameness. Almost three-quarters of all the lameness treatments were attributed to foot rot.
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These cases are often more common at this time of year, when snow is melting and pen conditions become wetter.
The most common treatment for these diseases in the cow-calf industry are penicillin or tetracycline, according to Waldner’s research.
Tetracyclines are classified in Category III by Health Canada and are only considered of medium importance in human medicine, while penicillin is in Category II, which is classified as high importance.
This is probably relatively minor antimicrobial use in the big scheme of how these drugs are used across livestock agriculture, but it is important that we are aware of our antimicrobial choices and wherever possible use drugs below Category I, which includes antimicrobials such as ceftiofur. Ceftiofur might be used for foot rot occasionally in dairy cattle or in feedlot cattle close to slaughter because these drugs have a very short withdrawal period.
In my experience, most lameness cases are assumed to be foot rot by the producer until proven otherwise.
However, treating all cases of lameness with antibiotics can be a mistake. The livestock industries are under more scrutiny regarding the use of antibiotics and in order to practise good antimicrobial stewardship, we need to have a proper diagnosis before reaching for the bottle of antimicrobials.
The clinical signs of foot rot are distinctive and if you carefully observe the animal, you can usually distinguish foot rot cases from other causes of lameness.
Foot rot usually causes a rapid onset of lameness, which is usually localized to one limb. There is uniform swelling of the coronary band, which is the area where the skin meets the top of the hoof. The swelling is uniform and on both sides of the foot. In addition, there is swelling in the interdigital space and the claws should be slightly separated.
If you are able to examine the foot, there will be splitting of the interdigital skin and foul smelling debris present between the claws.
In many cases, affected animals will also have a slightly elevated temperature as a result of the interdigital infection.
Cattle with foot rot usually respond rapidly to antibiotic therapy and will markedly improve within a few days. If you have treated an animal for foot rot and it does not improve, don’t continue treating with antibiotics or try a different antibiotic. There is usually some other reason behind the animal’s lameness and antibiotics may not provide any benefit in these cases.
An important cause of infectious lameness in the dairy industry is a condition known as digital dermatitis.
This disease has become more common in feedlot cattle and even in cow-calf herds on occasion.
This highly contagious infection occurs more on the heel skin of the foot and is due to a mixture of bacteria species and is also associated with wet conditions and poor hygiene. Usually hind legs are affected and the lesions may appear initially as a raw, red, oval ulcer on the back of the heel just above or at the coronary band that resembles a strawberry, which led to the name “strawberry foot rot.”
Many lesions often develop raised hair-like projections or wart-like lesions, which is why the condition is sometimes described as hairy heel wart.
In some animals, the lesion may extend up between the claws as well or appear on the front of the foot. These raw skin lesions are incredibly painful and cows will dramatically alter their gaits and postures to avoid putting pressure on these lesions. Since the lesion is usually at the heel, animals will walk on their toes and this may cause the hoof on the heels to overgrow.
Another lameness problem that can mimic foot rot is septic arthritis of the coffin joint (the final joint in the hoof). This is often a bacterial infection of the foot that results in a serious infection of the deeper structures of the foot. These may result from a complication of sole ulcers, sole abscesses that may be caused by stepping on a sharp penetrating object, an infected sand crack or traumatic lesion.
These animals are often severely lame and may barely touch the affected foot to the ground. They have swelling around the coronary band, which is often not symmetrical. One claw is often more severely affected. In severe cases, the swelling may move up higher onto the lower leg.
You may occasionally see pus draining from a site on the coronary band. These cases are often difficult to treat and will not usually respond to antibiotic therapy alone.
A lame cow is not always due to foot rot. You need to use observational skills and examine the foot whenever possible.
Talk to your veterinarian about the best methods for prevention and treatment of foot rot.
John Campbell is a professor in the department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine.
