Читать книгу Farm Animal Medicine and Surgery - Graham R Duncanson - Страница 152

This may be acute in cases of grain overload, or chronic with a diet low in fibre. The pH of the rumen will be low and this will depress food intake. This chronic form tends to occur in high-producing dairy cows or beef-fattening cattle fed entirely on grain. Diagnosis can be confirmed by measuring the pH of a sample of the rumen contents. Treatment is by adding bicarbonate to the food in the short term and by adding more fibre in the long term. In acute cases, animals should be given high volumes of electrolytes spiked with bicarbonate using an Agger’s pump, with supportive injections of vitamin B. In peracute cases, e.g. when an animal has broken into a grain store, a rumenotomy should be performed to remove the rumen contents and replace them with electrolytes.