Clinical, histologic, and bacteriologic findings in dairy cows with digital dermatitis (footwarts) one month after topical treatment with lincomycin hydrochloride or oxytetracycline hydrochloride

Objective—To compare the effectiveness of lincomycin and oxytetracycline for treatment of digital dermatitis (DD) in dairy cows through gross visual examination, histologic evaluation, and bacteriologic evaluation. Design—Randomized controlled clinical trial. Animals—25 cows with DD lesions from a commercial Holstein dairy herd. Procedures—Cows with DD lesions were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: topical treatment with 10 g of lincomycin hydrochloride (n = 11), topical treatment with 10 g of oxytetracycline hydrochloride (11), and no treatment (3) on days 1 and 2 (d1). Biopsy specimens were obtained for histologic examination from DD lesions prior to treatment and 28 or 31 days (d30) after treatment for histologic examination. Cows were clinically examined on d1, days 12 or 14 (d14), and d30. Results—No difference was evident in clinical responses to lincomycin and oxytetracycline, so data were pooled; at d30, 8 of 11 of lincomycin-treated lesions and 7 of 11 oxytetracycline-treated lesions appeared v...