Table 1 Table of metritis score definitions and examples of present usage in practice.
Scores | Clinical signs - vaginal examination | Cases | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Â | Â | Practical scoring | Decision making on treatment |
0 | None or very small amount of clean mucous discharge - no odour | L elaborates on the use of score 0: "Well, some should maybe have been 1 or 2. The score 1 I have never used." L scores all cows with a normal puerperal discharge 0. | Â |
1 | A very small amount of bloody mucous discharge - no odour | Â | Â |
2 | Small amount of bloody mucous/grey discharge - no odour | Â | Â |
3 | Large amounts of bloody seromucous/grey-yellow discharge - scabs on tail - no odour | J: "I use 2 - which means I will not treat, but I would like to see the cow again for control [...] I could use 3-4. But I just use 2, and the farmer knows what it means". J uses 0 for cows that are immediately characterized as non metritic. | Â |
4 | Large amounts of grey/yellow seromucous discharge - no abnormal odour | K: "My metritis score 4. It is when there is plenty of discharge, that smells and there is no temperature". J: "I can not differentiate as sharp as it is suggested by the system, so I only use 5-7-9". | A uses 4 and rectal temperature as a minimum threshold for metritis treatment. |
5 | Little to medium amounts of purulent discharge - difference in consistency and colour - smell abnormal | Â | L uses the combination of score 4 and a flaccid uterus by rectal examination to initiate treatment with prostaglandin. |
6 | Medium amounts of discharge - difference in texture and colour - smell abnormal | Â | K, I, E, J & B are explicitly using 5 as a minimum threshold for treatment. |
7 | Medium to large amounts of discharge - beginning to look red-brownish - stinks | I: "I have never given a cow score 9 if she was not very ill. We saw a cow I gave 8 [...]If she had had sunken eyes I had probably given her 9 with the same vaginal findings" | D, C, L, & H using a variable threshold for treatment and makes individual decision on individual cows based on multiple clinical criteria (incl. metritis score). |
8 | Large amounts of greyish discharge - stinks | K's scoring is influenced by rectal temperature: the higher temperature, the higher metritis score. | H attempts to exclude score 8-9 from the scale: "If they have a cow there is as sick as 8-9 they should call in advance. " |
9 | Large amounts of brown-yellow/brown discharge- typically a retained placenta - "smells like h...!" | Â | Â |