Cow ate a plastic bag: what to do and possible danger

Inorganic litter is increasingly common in pastures and cow-running fields. These are packages, wrappers, foil, film. Most often, such waste falls on the pasture with the wind. Eating dangerous cellophane "treats" by animals threatens with serious he alth problems and even death. What to do when a cow ate a plastic bag? Let's figure it out together.

What is the danger to the animal?

Polyethylene and cellophane are transparent moisture resistant film materials. For a cow, they are equally dangerous. When ingested, the film is not digested, but is compressed into a stone. There is a threat of mechanical blockage of food passages from the stomach and esophagus.

In rare cases, the cow eating the package passes without visible violations and consequences. Most often this is due to the small size of the foreign body that has entered the body. The polyethylene rolls up into a ball and is passed out with the stool. If the size of the eaten package is large or the film was eaten systematically, there is a threat to the he alth of the animal.

Risks of cows eating polyethylene.

1. Diarrhea. Develops with partial blockage of the gastrointestinal tract. Only the liquid content passes through the resulting "cellophane congestion". Farmers often confuse this condition with coccidiosis, salmonella, E. coli. Due to the lack of special assistance, the situation is aggravated.
2. Clogging of the esophagus and stopping the contractions of the stomach. Accompanied by constipation, gas formation. The condition threatens to stop breathing and kill the cow.
3. Intestinal volvulus. Characterized by the formation of intestinal nodes.
4. Complete bowel obstruction. Gas quickly expands the stomach and intestines. The process is accompanied by circulatory disorders, oxygen starvation of organs, intoxication.

The only way out in such situations is to remove the plastic bag from the animal's body. But due to the large size of the cow, this becomes problematic. Not all veterinarians agree to such an operation. If the cellophane has entangled the intestines, help is useless, the animal is being slaughtered.

What if the cow ate the package?

Unpleasant and dangerous situation - a cow chews and swallows a plastic bag. The farmer's typical first reaction is to remove the foreign body as quickly as possible. The real execution for the animal begins: its mouth is opened wide, a wedge is inserted between the jaws, a hand is inserted into the throat and they try to feel the end of the film. Also, some owners induce vomiting, hoping that the swallowed package will come out with the masses.All these actions are erroneous and dangerous, since such "help" can only aggravate the condition of the cow, accelerating her death.

So what is allowed to do? First of all, the affected individual should be separated from the herd. Then the farmer can only watch and hope. The time for complete digestion of food for a cow, calf, bull is about 70 hours.

For 3 days you need to carefully monitor the condition and feces. The best outcome of the situation is the natural exit of the plastic bag. In consultation with your veterinarian, you can stimulate and speed up the process by trying to soften the film.

The following media may be used.

1. Vaseline oil. Add to drink at the rate of 10 ml per 1 liter of water. No more than 2 times a day.
2. Ammonia. For 5 liters of water 2-3 drops. Give throughout the day, but not more than 2 days.
3. "Duphalac". Give 5-7 ml orally in the morning and evening.

Required medical attention if symptoms of obstruction appear. This is refusal of food with heavy drinking, lack of stool or profuse diarrhea and vomiting. In advanced and complex cases, only surgical intervention will help: opening the stomach and removing all the polyethylene. If surgery is not possible, the veterinarian will advise taking the cow to slaughter.

This is due to the fact that it is no longer possible to save the animal, it will die a slow, painful and painful death.

Prevention

Hazard zones are pastures next to roads, landfills, construction sites, from where garbage is carried throughout the area. Here shepherds should be especially vigilant. If possible, it is best not to drive the herd into potentially dangerous fields.The only real preventive measure here is the daily manual collection of polyethylene waste.

In the backyards, containers and buckets of garbage should be kept as far away as possible. Give hay bales without wrapping threads, feed - without packaging. It is planned to give cows multivitamin complexes: eating waste and inedible products may be associated with a lack of trace elements in the body. It is important not to forget about regular visits to the vet.

Plastic and plastic bags are a real threat to cows, bulls and calves. The film does not dissolve in the gastric juice, is not digested, often causes blockage or complete obstruction of the digestive tract. There is no cure or cure for this problem. It remains to hope for the best and carefully monitor the diet of animals.

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