The FDA adverse-event record for cattle

Cattle Adverse Event Insights

The FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine database holds 15,432 adverse event reports for Cattle, distributed across 63 distinct breeds currently tracked in the system. Of those reports, 6,575 involved a death outcome, producing a 42.6% case-fatality rate among reported events, which reflects reporting severity bias rather than true population mortality. These figures are aggregated directly from openFDA's Animal & Veterinary Adverse Events endpoint and update as new voluntary submissions flow through pet owners, veterinarians, and drug manufacturers.

The most frequently reported clinical signs for Cattle are Death (5,112 reports), Lack of efficacy - NOS (2,639 reports), Lack of efficacy (bacteria) - NOS (1,699 reports), Lack of efficacy (ectoparasite) - lice (1,076 reports), with Death leading the reaction traffic at 5,112 submissions. On the product side, Monensin Sodium is the single most-referenced drug with 1,874 reports, followed by Tulathromycin (1,659), Doramectin (1,357), Ceftiofur Crystalline Free Acid (959). This combination surfaces which therapeutic classes generate the most adverse event chatter for this species, a useful starting point when comparing Cattle reporting patterns against other companion animals in the dataset.

Of the 17,608 Cattle reports with a coded outcome, Outcome Unknown accounts for the largest share at 40.3%. Annual submission volume spans 2,010 to 2,025 reports across the 16 years on file, a range that reflects evolving owner awareness, veterinary reporting habits, and new product approvals rather than stable underlying incidence. The breed-level table below breaks these patterns down further, showing how the 63 tracked cattle breeds compare on volume, deaths, and average age at report. As with all FDA adverse event data, correlation is the ceiling, causation requires clinical investigation beyond what these aggregates can provide.