Clinical and Surgical Findings and Outcome Following Rumenotomy in Adult Dairy Cattle Affected with Recurrent Rumen Tympany Associated with Non-Metallic Foreign Bodies

Medical records of 31 adult dairy cows suffering from recurrent rumen tympany for at least 1 month duration that underwent exploratory laparotomy and rumenotomy were reviewed and information was obtained on signalment, history, physical examination findings, laboratory findings and surgical findings. Cases were categorized according to surgical findings into 3 groups. Group 1 (n = 10) included cattle with reticuloruminal, metallic foreign bodies and perireticular adhesions/inflammation, group 2 (n = 14) included cattle with reticuloruminal, non-metallic foreign bodies and no perireticular adhesions/inflammation and group 3 (n = 7) included cattle with no reticuloruminal foreign bodies and no perireticular adhesions/inflammation. Anorexia and decreased milk production were the most common clinical signs in all groups. Reluctant to move and arched back were prominent in group 1. In 45% of cases, frothy bloat was associated with the presence of large amounts of reticuloruminal, non-metallic foreign bodies. Collectively, factors that significantly had negative impact on outcome were: presence of perireticular adhesions, feeding finely-ground grain and plasma fibrinogen levels above 600mg dL. However, the amount of grain fed per day and type of bloat (free-gas or frothy gas) had no significant effect on the outcome. Results of this study suggest that similar to metallic foreign bodies, non-metallic foreign bodies in the reticulorumen of adult dairy cattle are equally important in causing recurrent rumen tympany.