by Karoline Inong

Created on: May 02, 2009   Last Updated: April 07, 2010

Bloat typically happens in cattle when they happen to graze on young, lush new pasture and especially if the pasture is high in legume content such as medics, lucerne or clover. Ruminant animals are known to produce large volumes of gas during their process of digestion and of course release it like humans do either by belching or it passing through the gastrointestinal tract.

However, if something happens to interfere with the release of gas from their rumen, bloat then will occur. Some of the natural foaming agents found in legumes and some rapidly growing grasses can cause a stable foam to form in the rumen. Then the gas is trapped in the small bubbles in this foam in the rumen, When this happens the animal cannot release the gas from the rumen creating pressure to build up in the rumen and causes an obvious swelling on the left side of their body.

Symptoms:

In cattle that end up getting bloat you tend to see the following:

• distended left abdomen
• no longer grazing;
• a reluctance to move;
• appear distressed;
• rapid breathing;
• staggering.

In advance stages of bloat the animal will typically go down. Death is also pretty rapid at this stage because of the swollen rumen compressing the lungs, interfering with the animal's breathing and tissue oxygenation, and also obstructing the animal's blood flow.

Treatment:

Early/mild cases

Animals that are mildly affected can simply be treated orally with an anti-bloat preparation. After dosing, you should keep moving the animal to encourage the preparation to mix with the frothy rumen contents.

Moderately affected cases

Bloated animals will typically start showing signs of distress and often need veterinary attention. A stomach tube can be used to relieve the gas build-up. Anti-foaming agents too can be delivered directly into the rumen through the tube. Again moving the animal around after treatment is important.

Severe cases

Typically cattle in severe cases of bloat often are severely bloated and distressed need rapid release. You can achieve this by inserting a wide-bore trochar and cannula into the rumen high on the left flank, usually where the swelling is the greatest. After the gas and froth is released, an anti-bloat preparation is poured through the cannula into the rumen to help break down the remaining foam/froth.

In emergency situations, 250-500 mL of vegetable oil or 100-200 mL of paraffin oil has traditionally been used. Also in most cases of frothy bloat, a trochar and cannula

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