Meloxicam as adjunctive therapy in treatment and control of porcine respiratory disease complex in growing pigs

Methods: A total of 162 ninety-day-old pigs showing early clinical signs of PRDC were weighed (Day 0) and allocated into two treatment groups, Controls (n = 82) and Meloxicam (n = 80), in a randomized block design (approximately 20 pigs per pen, four pens per treatment per replicate). In-feed chlortetracycline (800 g per tonne; 20 mg per kg body weight per day) was administered to both groups for 8 consecutive days (Days 0 to 7). On Day 0, Controls received a single injection of a placebo and the Meloxicam group received a single injection of meloxicam (0.4 mg per kg body weight). Respiratory signs were assessed per individual animal and per treatment group Days 0 to 7. Frequency of additional injectable medications, mortality rate, and growth rate were assessed until the end of the growing phase (117 days of age; Day 27). The lungs of all dead animals were submitted for bacteriological culture and pathological examination.