Dairy Cows
Concerns have been reported [?], [?] on the adverse consequences which can occur, including ketosis, in dairy cows, following the accidental inclusion, at feed mills, in dairy cow feeds, of low levels of antibiotics used for the prevention and control of enzootic pneumonia in pigs e.g. lincomycin and tylosin.
Studies of the accidental inclusion of tiamulin in the feed of dairy cows have been made in conjunction with the Huntingdon Research Centre, England. At low and intermediate levels (5ppm and 30ppm) for 7 days no changes in milk production occurred and yields were within normal limits. Feed consumption was not affected and there was no reduction in the speed of feed consumption. There was no diarrhoea or other treatment-related change in the health status of the medicated cows.
As an indicator of the margin of safety, a contamination level of 200ppm tiamulin, which is 4x the maximum recommended prophylactic level in pig feed of 50ppm, may be expected only to induce in the cow a reluctance to consume contaminated rations.
Sheep and Goats
The safety of Tiamutin oily injectable (providing 100mg tiamulin base/ml equivalent to 123mg tiamulin hf/ml, formulated in sesame oil) in sheep/goats was investigated by Somkuwar, A.P. and others (1994) of the Department of Pharmacology, Bombay Veterinary College, Bombay, India [?].
6 sheep and 6 goats weighing between 25 - 35kg were injected with 10 mg thf/kg bodyweight by deep i/m injection in the neck region and repeated each 12 hours for 3 consecutive days. The authors reported that in this study there were no untoward local or systemic effects after i/m injections 2 x daily for 3 consecutive days, using the oily formulation. There were no signs of pain or irritation at the site of injection in the neck region. Nevertheless Tiamutin injection may occasionally cause temporary pain/swelling at the site of injection in some sheep/goats and it is prudent to split any dose administered by injecting i/m at different sites.
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