RUMENOTOMY 407 



RUMENOTOMY. 



SYNONYM.— Gastrotomy. 



DEFINITION.— Rumenotomy is the surgical incision 

 of the rumen, for the purpose of evacuating harmful con- 

 tents. As the operation includes abdominal incision it should, 

 correctly speaking, be known as laparo-rumenotomy, or lap- 

 aro-gastrotomy. 



INDICATIONS. — The operation is performed chiefly in 

 oxen; rarely in the smaller ruminants. The conditions ne- 

 cessitating surgical invasion of the rumen are (i) overload- 

 ing with foods that undergo an active fermentative process. 

 (2) impactions without fermentation which cause suspen- 

 sion of rumination, and (2) the presence of foreign bodies, 

 which ruminants are prone to ingest. 



1. Overloading of the rumen with succulent grasses, 

 new hay, frosted fodder, soft, unripe corn, swill, garbage, 

 etc., devoured more or less ravenously, is a frequent cause 

 of a threatening, serious abdominal bloat requiring instan- 

 taneous relief that can only be afforded by prompt evacuation. 

 In these events the content of the rumen is a churning, bub- 

 bling, fermenting mass that can not be evacuated with the 

 trocar and canula, sufficiently to make any appreciable im- 

 pression upon the intra-abdominal tension, as only a limited 

 amount of gas and ingesta will gurgle from the canula. The 

 administration of antiferments, carminatives, antacids and 

 purgatives is generally futile because, in the emergency due 

 to the accentuating seriousness of the condition, they either 

 fail to exert any beneficial effect or else come to the rescue 

 after the viscera have suffered irreparable damage. The only 

 safe procedure is timely evacuation by rumenotomy. The 

 i-ntervejition should be an early one ; before the patient is 

 in a dying condition. Delayed rumenotomies are usually 

 unsuccessful. 



2. Impactions. — The rumen sometimes becomes over- 

 filled with drier contents than the foregoing, from overfeed- 

 ing and lack of exercise, from inactivity of the rumen due 

 to debilitating diseases or influences ; from an insufficient 

 water allowance, or from any of the innumerable circum- 

 stances and conditions that cause suspension of rumination. 



In these instances the rumen is impacted one-half full, 

 two-thirds full or even to the upper zone with relatively dry 

 ingesta constituted chiefly of the rough forage feeds (hay, 

 fodder, etc) mixed sparingly with the small-grain feeds 

 (corn, peas, wheat, rye, brewer's grain, etc.) 



