280 Foreign Bodies in the Fore-stomachs. 



The affection begins exceptionally ^^'ith gagging or vomiting, with 

 the expulsion of either blood or food mash through the mouth and 

 nose (Miiller, Wilhelm, Sequens, Holterbach). Gagging and vomiting 

 are however repeated occasionally. The animals may die in consequence 

 of the aspiration of feed-mash into the larynx. Exceptionally fluid 

 or coagulated blood is passed per rectum. In a case of Harms the patient 

 voided a red coagulum on the second day, which may clearly have been a 

 cast of the reticulum. Rectal hemorrhage is, however, either transitory or 

 may, like vomiting of blood, speedily lead to death (Eggeling, Holter- 

 bach). In a case of Eber in which the wall of the rumen at the entrance 

 of the esophagus had lieen perforated by the foreign body, the cow 

 fell sick suddenly under the picture of a paralysis of the tongue with 

 inability to swallow. It occurs more frequently that traumatic gastritis 

 is initiated by the clinical picture of overfilling of the rumen or of 

 meteorism. 



Wlien perforation of the gastric wall lias occurred slowly, 

 pain is insignificant or absent. In such cases the disturbances 

 of nutrition and the further course of the disease are in general 

 identical with those of chronic gastric atony (chronic dyspepsia) 

 (see page 268). Sometimes it is possible to demonstrate a 

 circumscribed dullness before or behind the posterior boundary 

 of the lung, which is caused by an abscess or by granulation 

 tissue. The disturbances of digestion which vary from case 

 to case have one feature in common, namely, a high degree of 

 obstinacy. Still, temporary improvement or aggravation may 

 occur (the latter particularly after deliveries and transpor- 

 tation). Emaciation and debility become very marked in 

 consequence of digestive disturbances. The production of milk 

 is usually considerably diminished from the start or even com- 

 pletely abolished. 



In this protracted course of the disease fever often occurs 

 later on. Schultz found an increase of leucocytes in the circulat- 

 ing blood and these findings in obstinate gastric disturbances 

 speak in favor of a traumatic gastritis. 



Complications arise frequently in consequence of the 

 Avandering of the foreign body, exceptionally also in animals 

 which at first did not show any symptoms at all. Comparatively 

 frequent is traumatic pericarditis, less frequent pneumonia or 

 peritonitis. Sometimes the scene is closed by a general infec- 

 tion with septicemia or pyemia, sometimes again the bacteria 

 are carried along and deposited in distant organs, for instance, 

 the joints where they then produce local inflammatory pro- 

 cesses. 



Finally a more or less painful swelling of doughy or firm 

 consistency develops in rare cases in the region of the ensiform 

 cartilage, behind the left elbow or in the left region of the 

 lower ribs, exceptionally also on more distantly situated places 

 of the body, which breaks open after a time and discharges 

 pus or rather an ill-smelling ichorous fluid mixed with feed 

 material through the opening, and sometimes the foreign body 



