TONGUE ROLLING OROSTHENIC SYNDROME IN CATTLE:CARE & MANAGEMENT
Clinical management of tongue rolling orosthenic syndrome in cattle
Stereotypic behavior is repetitive, invariant behavior with no obvious goal or function and may indicate negative welfare. Non-nutritive oral behaviors are the most common form of stereotypic behavior in captive ungulates and these include tongue rolling where the cow’s tongue is extended, moving inside and outside of the mouth while the cow is not eating.
In this type of behavioral anomaly animals extrude their tongue from the mouth and moved by curling and uncurling outside or inside of the mouth. After that partial swallowing of the tongue and gulping of the air take place. It is perform by cows and buffaloes to satisfy their instinct of prehension of forage plants during grazing. Tongue rolling is seen most frequently immediately before and after feeding. It has been observed that hereditable factor and early weaning of calves can increase the incidence of this behavior.
Animal should be left for grazing or they should be given the freedom of movement by keeping them untied for few hours. Visual separation of affected animal is required to prevent the spread of this behavioral abnormality to other animals and they should be given some unchaffed fodder for chewing. Animals having the habit of tongue playing should not be kept as breeding stock.
The orosthenic syndrome belongs to a very wide category of cattle ethopaties. These stereotypic oral manifestations are characterised by various motoric activities of the tongue. Their aetiology is based on monotony of environmental stimuli and predisposition of ruminants to this syndrome. Stereotypies are defined as relatively invariant, apparently functionless, repetitive behaviour . They occur as a response to strong stimuli and serve to alleviate its effect . It was observed that stereotypic behaviour decreases the physiological response to invoking factors . The frequency of occurrence of stereotypies decreases with increasing variability of the environment
The orosthenic syndrome is a set of oral activities classified as obsessive-compulsive disorders. They are repetitive, permanent and unusual behavioural abnormalities out of what is deemed normal for the different animal species (McMillan, 2005). It is assumed that the manifestations of abnormal behaviour are directly associated to specific rearing conditions and animal selection (Damasio, 1999; Vučinič & Lazič, 2008). In cattle, the various forms of hyperactivity of the ton- gue (licking, rolling etc.) are most commonly seen because of tongue prehensility in this animal species, e.g. strong inclination for grabbing things with the tongue due to the nature of feeding (Veissier et al., 1998; Mattiello et al., 2002; Baumont et al., 2006). Most authors (Seo et al., 1998a; Wemelsfelder & Lawrence, 2001; Bokkers & Koene, 2001; Ishiwata et al., 2008; Marekova et al., 2008; İssi et al., 2009) affirm that the main reasons for appearance of this obsessive-compulsive disorder are the lack or restricted time spent on pasture, rearing in excessively small spaces; abomasal ulcerations in calves, lack of variety of external stimuli, feeding a fibre-deficient fodder, boredom, postpartum hypocalcaemia etc. The frequency of tongue rolling decreases as the diversity of external stimuli increases, but could lead to suppression of other oral physiological activities as rumination, grazing and suckling (Wiepkema, 1995; Wemelsfelder & Lawrence, 2001; Prodanovič et al., 2013a,b). The disorder could affect up to 8% of cattle (Marekova et al., 2008), or more than 10% (Sato et al., 1994a), attaining 13.33% of the population (Prodanovič et al., 2013a,b). Cattle within a wide age range are affected: from 6 months to 6 years of age (Sato et al., 1994a; Karatzias et al., 1995; Seo et al., 1998a; Okatan et al., 2008; Rushen, et al., 2007). The orosthenic syndrome in cattle could be manifested as licking various surfaces or body parts (both own and of other animals), and urine drinking (Shahhosseini, 2013). “Tongue play” involves opening of the mouth, tongue rolling, flicking it outside the mouth and performing multiple rapid various movements of various intensity, direction (rolling, twisting) and frequency (Sato et al., 1994a; Seo et al., 1998a; Rushen et al., 2008). These movements are occasionally accompanied by noisy swallowing of air and saliva (Webb et al., 2016). In some instances of tongue rolling manifestation, biting and licking of various surfaces, most frequently wooden and metal rails, doors, boxes etc. could be observed (Sato et al., 1994a,b; Karatzias et al., 1995). Oral stereotypies are much more frequent in cattle reared intensively in tie stalls, entirely indoor (Redbo, 1990; 1992; Lindström & Redbo, 2000) deprived from grazing naturally on a pasture (Rushen et al., 2008; Doyle & Moran, 2015). It is demonstrated that cattle reared on pastures spend almost 9 hours daily grazing. The lack of pasture decreases also the time spent ruminating, which further reduces the engagement of cattle (Redbo et al., 1996; Redbo & Nordblad, 1997; Baumont et al., 2006; Corazzin et al., 2010). Rearing in tie stalls largely prevents the locomotion of animals (Broom & Fraser, 2015), and this restriction induces a serious frustration (Juhis & Debrecеni, 1999; Wemelsfelder & Lawrence, 2001). When the intervals among the different feedings are large, the state of “expectation of feeding” in intensively reared cattle occurs (Sandem et al., 2002). The animals have more time between meals, hence the occurrence of boredom (Veissier et al., 1998; Baumont et al., 2006). The type and amount of fodder is essential for onset of the tongue play oral hyperactivity in cattle. It was proved that feeding mainly concentrate or mixing the concentrate with silage and finely ground roughage decreases the time of feed intake, which increases the risk from lack of engagement of animals (Mattiello et al., 2002; Doyle & Moran, 2015). The frequency of the activity decreases substantially after inclusion of unground rough- age (hay and straw) in the ration of animals.
Tongue rolling mainly occurs in veal cattle and is most likely a stereotypic behaviour resulting from confinement. The affected cattle flick its tongue outside and roll it back inside the mouth, followed by swallowing saliva (Landsberg and Denenberg, 2016) . With tongue rolling or tongue playing, the animal curls and uncurls the tongue inside or outside their mouth. After that, partial swallowing of the tongue and gulping of air may take place. Very few literatures are available regarding tongue rolling orosthenic syndrome in cattle.
Stereotypic behaviour is a term applied to repeated sequences of a behaviour that has no apparent purpose or benefit (Mason and Rushen, 2006) . In the present study, the tongue rolling behaviour was observed in different age group of animals. Out of 10 cattle, 4 were calves (around 3 to 5 months of age group), 4 were heifers (2 years old) and 2 were adult cattle. Age of occurrence in the present study was in concurrence with the statements of Ridge et al. (2020) where they recorded tongue rolling in cattle aged between 6 months to 6 years. All the animals were reared in the intensive farming system and reported from various premises. Higher incidences were associated with too little space per animal, rations with no dry forage and difficult access to water. In the present study, feeding habit, urination and defecation were normal in all the animals. On clinical examination, vital signs like temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate were within the normal range with pink and moist mucous membranes (Binev, 2020) . It was noticed that the tongue was protruded and rolling in and out all the times continuously for a period of 2 to 6 months in calves and 1 year in cattle and sometimes it extends outward to long distance frequently Reduction in the rumination time due to tongue rolling behaviour in cattle were in concurrence with Ishiwata et al. Normal haemato-biochemical values in the present study were in correlation with Binev (2020) . The faecal sample examination was negative for parasitic ova. Clinical management included change in the environment of animals, confined animals were advised to take out for grazing and animals kept alone were accompanied with other animals and let for grazing. In calves, the feeding pattern was advised to supplement roughages. Similarly, Albright and Arave (1997) and Binev (2020) clinically managed tongue rolling in cattle by transferring to loose housing or grazing from tethering and by providing straw or hay.
COURTESY-DR. P. SRINIVASAN, CHENNAI
