34 SPECIAL CATTLE TI-IERAPT 



INGESTED FOREIGN BODIES 



Under this head we will discuss those conditions 

 which ocfasionally develop in cattle from swallowing 

 hard substances, such as pieces of iron, wire, nails, 

 hairpins, and similar objects. 



The habit of ingesting foreign material such as that 

 described above seems to be a normal one in cattle. 

 Nearly all cattle examined postmortem ar(; found to 

 contain in the rumen and other parts of the alimen- 

 tary tract numbers of such objects. Apparently they 

 rarely do harm ; at least they ordinarily give no sign 

 of their presence during the life of the animal. 



Under certain conditions, however, the ingestion of 

 hard foreign objects produces results which are quite 

 serious and frequently fatal. 



In such cases the offending object is usually of iron, 

 steel or wire in the form of elongated pieces with a 

 pointed extremity. It may be that the sharp end of 

 the object becomes lodged l>etween folds of mucous 

 membrane, or that it enters the mouth of the ducts of 

 some gland. The peristaltic movements and contrac- 

 tions assist in implanting or embedding the object to 

 such a degree that it remains lodged. Necrosis at the 

 point of lodgement occurs and the object penetrates 

 into the peritoneal cavity or into contiguous organs 

 such as the liver, spleen, through the diaphragm and 

 the heart or lungs. 



Nails, pieces of baling wire, and similar objects, 

 have been found on postmortem examination in almost 

 all organs, not excepting the heart, and in many in- 

 stances the animal suffered no ill effects apparent to 

 the eye during its lifetime; although in some cases 

 the object had traversed the length of the abdominal 



