TRAUMATIC INDIGESTION OF THE OX 129 



known as "pica," take into the stomach considerable deleteri- 

 ous foreign matter. 



Sometimes masses of hair (wool in sheep) are licked off other 

 animals, or usually due to some itching skin lesion, from the 

 patient itself. These accumulations form hair (or wool) 

 balls in the stomach. 



Etiology. — The fact that an animal ruminates does away 

 with -the necessity of thorough mastication following pre- 

 hension. The food is rolled in the mouth by the tongue, 

 which is not very sensitive, mixed with saliva and swallowed 

 without being chewed. Any foreign bodies in it, therefore, 

 usually reach the stomach. While blunt foreign bodies usually 

 do no harm unless large quantities of them accumulate, or if 

 they block the natural openings of the stomach,- sharp- 

 > pointed objects (needles, wire, nails) are frequently forced 

 through the walls of the reticulum by the peristaltic move- 

 ments, causing a traumatic gastritis. Usually the sharp- 

 pointed object penetrates the diaphragm in the direction of 

 the heart sac. Sometimes another route is taken, the wire, 

 needle, etc., entering the lung, liver, spleen, uterus, or even 

 aorta, where it sets up a suppurative inflammation leading to 

 abscess formation or fatal hemorrhage. In some cases the 

 abscesses may become encapsuled and the condition latent, 

 or by way of metastasis, pyemia with multiple abscess for- 

 mation in parenchymatous organs (lungs, liver) results. 



Symptoms. — In general the symptoms are those of an 

 indigestion not traceable to errors in diet, which is period- 

 ical (remissions and exacerbations), and often associated with 

 rheumatic-like stiffness of the patient. Blunt foreign bodies 

 produce symptoms of indigestion, which without a clear 

 history of the case are extremely difficult to differentiate 

 from chronic gastric catarrh. Accumulations of sand or silt 

 in the rumen sometimes induce symptoms of loss of appetite, 

 suppressed rumination, slobbering, stiffness of movement, 

 and frequent groaning. In some cases the rumen feels ab- 

 normally hard on palpation and the feces will be found to 

 contain particles of sand. Occasionally the cattle will show 

 toxic symptoms resembling those of parturient paresis. 



If the blunt foreign bodies block the natural openings of 

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