Treatment of metritis with antibiotics or prostaglandin F2 alpha and influence of ovarian cyclicity in dairy cows.

From 4 dairy herds with a high prevalence of metritis, 153 cows with clinical metritis diagnosed at 30 days after calving were allotted randomly to 3 groups: (1) intrauterine antibiotics (chloramphenicol, framycetin) given in 3 doses, 1 week between doses (n = 53); (2) prostaglandin F2 alpha given IM in 2 doses, 14 days between doses (n = 61); and (3) control cows given a placebo (n = 39). To further evaluate the efficiency of the treatments, uterine swabs were prepared from 59 of the cows; Corynebacterium pyogenes was isolated in 51% of the cows. All isolated bacteria were susceptible to chloramphenicol and 85% to neomycin and related antibiotics (framycetin). The overall clinical recovery rates, estimated by 60 days after parturition, were identical (49%) in the 2 treated groups vs 33% in controls. The mean interval from calving to conception was 147 days in the controls and was shortened by 16 days in group 1 and 24 days in group 2. The physiologic status, ie, ovarian cyclicity, was shown to exert a significant influence on the time required for recovery. On the average, anestrous cows recovered in 14 days and conceived 34 days later than did cycling cows.