A retrospective study of forensic cases of skin ulcerations in Danish pigs from 2000 to 2014

BACKGROUND: Ulcerations in pigs, as in other farm animals, are considered to be painful and therefore hampering the welfare. Farmers are obliged to provide an intervention to protect animals against unnecessary suffering and failure to do so is considered negligence. Moreover, animals with severe open wounds are considered unfit for transportation and so are pigs with ulcerations located on hernias. This paper presents a retrospective study of forensic case files concerning ulcerations in Danish pigs from 2000 to 2014. The aim of the study was to clarify the number of cases, the number of pigs, the anatomical localization and size of ulcerations, evaluate changes during years and the age of the lesions. RESULTS: A total of 209 case files concerning 283 pigs with 459 ulcerations were included. In 2004, 2005, 2007–2009 and 2011, sows with shoulder ulcerations were the most frequently submitted, while in 2014 pigs with ulcerations on umbilical outpouchings dominated. The change in pattern on body location most likely reflects specific national regulations enforced from 2003 to 2009. The ulcerations were estimated to be from 4 h to several months old and the median diameter of ulcerations was 4 cm. CONCLUSIONS: Since 2004, the number of cases per year has declined. However, the number of affected pigs has remained almost constant from 2004 to 2014 (23.8 ± 8.5 pigs per year). The change in pattern on body parts with ulcerations likely reflected specific national regulations

Gross and histopathological evaluation of human inflicted bruises in Danish slaughter pigs

BACKGROUND: Human inflicted bruises in slaughter pigs are hampering animal welfare, are an infringement of the animal protection act, and are a focus of public attention. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the gross appearance of human inflicted bruises in slaughter pigs and to compare the inflammatory changes in two lesions as a basis for estimating the age of lesions in the same pig. Pigs with human inflicted bruises slaughtered at two major slaughterhouses in Denmark from November 2013 to May 2014 were evaluated. After slaughter, the bruises were examined grossly and skin and underlying muscle tissue from two similar but separate bruises (a and b) on each pig were sampled for histology. RESULTS: Skin and muscle tissue from 101 slaughter pigs were subjected to gross evaluation. Eighty-one of these were also subjected to histological evaluation. Most frequently (51 out of 101 pigs, 50 %), bruises had a tram-line pattern due to blunt trauma inflicted with long objects such as sticks. Other bruises reflected the use of tattoo-hammers, plastic paddles, double U profiles and chains. Histological evaluation of two bruises from a pig with multiple lesions was found insufficient to assess the overall age of the lesions as substantial variation in the inflammatory response between bruises was present. CONCLUSIONS: Grossly, the pattern of bruises often reflected the shape of the object used for inflicting the lesions. When determining the age of multiple bruises on a pig more than two lesions should be evaluated histologically. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12917-016-0869-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

A porcine model for pathomorphological age assessment of surgically excised skin wounds

Abstract A porcine model of second intention wound healing was established and gross and histological changes needed for accurate assessing the age of wounds were determined. Twenty-five pigs were anesthetized before incision of four wounds on each. The wounds were left to heal from 1 h to 35 days when the pigs were euthanized. In 14 pigs, biopsies were sampled from two wounds between days 2 and 18. By histological evaluation the following characteristics were found useful for determining the age of wounds: neutrophil:macrophage ratio, angiogenesis, hyperplasia of fibroblasts, presence of hemosiderophages and granulation tissue. The latter was present from day 4 (n = 8 wounds, 100%), but by gross evaluation it was not recognized until day 5 (n = 4 wounds, 100%). From day 4 to 10, the thickness of granulation tissue increased by 1.2 ± 2.4 mm/day. The thickness of collagen fibers within granulation tissue increased throughout the study period, and complete epithelization was reached from day 18

MOESM4 of A porcine model for pathomorphological age assessment of surgically excised skin wounds

Additional file 4. Infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages was scored as: (0) absent; (1) < 10; (2) 10–20; (3) 21–50; (4) 51–100; (5) 101–200; (6) > 200 using a 40× objective and 10× ocular with FN 22 mm in one high power field (HPF) of 0.237 mm2. The scoring was carried out in the HPF with the highest number of neutrophils and macrophages within areas 1–4 in the wounds (Fig. 2a, b). From each wound, only the highest score was registered, i.e. one neutrophil score and one macrophage score per wound. Location of the wound (1–4), wound age, neutrophil score and macrophage score are presented