Volume 10, No.1
INTRATRACHEAL INJECTIONS
By: Russ Schnepper, D.V.M.
I use the intratracheal route of administration on many difficult respiratory cases. This is an off label use. Dexamethasone and an antibiotic are injected directly into the trachea. The trachea feels like a corrugated pipe and is easily found running down the lower part of the neck. I pick an injection site that is approximately mid way down the neck. Use an 18 gauge, one inch needle on the end of a 12 ml syringe. Grasp the trachea with one hand to stabilize it and then insert the needle through the wall of the trachea. The trachea is very cartilaginous, so it requires some pressure to get thru the wall. Once the end of the needle is in the lumen of the trachea, pull back on the plunger of the syringe and you should get air bubbles into the syringe, if you are in the correct place. Then inject the dexamethasone and antibiotic into the trachea. The calf will act like you are drowning it, but it only coughs momentarily. The treatment is usually successful. I use two to four ml of dexamethasone and the regular dose of the antibiotic. The dexamethasone can be mixed with the antibiotic in the same syringe.
A larger needle will quite often cut a bleb from the trachea, which is cartilage, and plug the needle. That is why I use an 18 gauge needle.
I find calf raisers that are squirting the medication into the calf's nose, thinking they are getting the antibiotic into the trachea. However, what you squirt in the nose goes into the stomach via the esophagus unless the calf is inhaling at the time you administer the medication. Passing a stomach tube thru the nose is a routine procedure in cattle, horses, and humans. The hose goes into the esophagus rather than the trachea. If the hose goes into the trachea, you are in trouble.
The pneumonia, that occurs in Holsteins that are less than three months of age is almost always caused by Pasteurella multocida bacteria. The Pasteurella are normal inhabitants of the sinuses, the upper respiratory tract, of the calf. The calf does not have to come in contact with other calves to "catch" Pasteurella pneumonia. The bacteria are already there. If the calf is stressed by commingling, shipping, feed changes, ventilation problems, a viral infection etc., the calf's immune system is compromised allowing the Pasteurella organisms to multiply. In 14 days the Pasteurella numbers are high enough to move down into the lung, producing a full blown pneumonia. This is the way it works "stress the calf and 14 days later you have pneumonia".
My calf program calls for giving the calf either a modified live virus vaccine, and/or Immunoboost on the day of arrival into its new facilities. This is for interferon production, Mother Nature's own medicine. Likewise, if moving calves from individual housing to groups, I vaccinate or give Immunoboost the day of moving and then again at 10 to 12 days later. This way we get a dose of interferon produced again just prior to the end of the 14 day incubation period of the Pasteurella. This has worked very well in preventing the majority of the pneumonia following commingling. Remember the calf has to have selenium and Vitamin E for the immune system to function effectively.
Contact information for ordering information and questions about our products:
Schnepper International, Inc.
3162 County B, Platteville, WI 53818
608-348-6141, Fax: 608-348-6146
www.calfdoctor.com email: rschnep@mhtc.net