Easy to Swallow, Hard to Digest

Cattleman, The, Mar 2008 by Waters, Katrina

Two veterinarians discuss hardware disease and offer tips to prevent it from affecting your herd - and pocketbook.

Maybe it was in the feed.

Maybe it was well concealed in a round bale.

Or, maybe, the cow just picked the metal object up out of the pasture.

No matter the origin, now you've got a cow off feed - or worse, battling a deadly infection - and the vet has confirmed it is hardware disease. But what is it, if exactly? And what can you do to minimize the chances of it happening in your cow herd?

What is Hardware Disease?

Hardware disease is the commonly used term for traumatic reticulitis or traumatic reticuloperitonitis, and occurs when a metal object pierces the reticulum, a compartment of the stomach involved in rumination.

Joe Pat Hemphill, DVM, a TSCRA director from Coleman, says a piece of metal can stay in the reticulum indefinitely without creating a problem.

But when something happens that creates straining from that cow - like giving birth, for instance - the additional pressure could cause the object to finally penetrate through the wall of the reticulum.

"And then," he says, "the first thing you are going to encounter is an infection within the abdominal cavity, called peritonitis.

"The peritonitis can be something from a very minor infection to a massive infection, which is ultimately going to result in the death of this animal.

"In some classic cases, this object actually penetrates through the diaphragm and into the thoracic cavity. Then, you may have penetration of the lining of the heart, the pericardium. And, in this case, you've got not only the abdominal problem but you've got an infection of the thoracic cavity, a process that is going to lead to congestive heart failure," Hemphill says.

Cattle and other ruminants seem to be more susceptible than other livestock or horses to this type of affliction because of the nature of their digestive system and eating habits.

M.R. "Mike" Wirtz, DVM, a TSCRA director from Brenham, says cattle are definitely "indiscriminate eaters."

"Horses are much more discriminating; horses are finicky. You can put a penny in a horse's feed trough and there's no way he's going to eat it. You drop a penny in a cow's feed trough and it's going to be gone," he says.

Wirtz and Hemphill both say that is due in part to how a cow's digestive system works.

"A cow doesn't always thoroughly chew the forage at the time she intakes it because she is going to regurgitate that cud later. That is when the really thorough mastication, or chewing process, takes place," Hemphill explains.

"So, when you have a group of cows around a round bale and they're all hungry and eager and they like to see who can eat the most the fastest, they are not real particular about what they swallow. And they don't chew it up real well, because they are going to chew it again later."

Some cattle are more likely to get hardware disease than others.

Hemphill says it is more of a problem in areas where cattle are more concentrated and are fed a lot of hay or processed feeds, as opposed to range conditions, where cattle are more widely dispersed and are feeding primarily on growing grasses.

Signs and Symptoms

"They're off feed; they're not going to look in as good of condition as they normally would; they're probably not going to be as full as the rest of the cattle," Hemphill says, of cattle suffering from hardware disease.

He says they often will stand off by themselves and may appear to be "humped up."

They may also walk with a stiff gait.

In the most serious cases, he says there will also be "edema - a greatly swollen brisket area. These cows will normally have difficulty in breathing; the brisket area is going to be greatly distended; they're going to be reluctant to do much of anything."

Diagnosis

To diagnose hardware disease, Hemphill says in most cases the veterinarian will rely on a visual appraisal of the cow.

"If you're in a situation where you're seeing this tremendous amount of edema in the brisket area, as a colleague of mine said, 'This is a no-brainer.' You know that is what you've got. You know this cow is in grave condition," he says.

On the other hand, with milder cases where the cow is just off feed and may be running a fever, listening to the abdominal sounds with a stethoscope may indicate hardware disease, Hemphill continues.

Wirtz says it's all a matter of how in-depth a cattleman wants to go to diagnose the animal.

"You can go truly in-depth if you use an ultrasound or if you use x-rays and so forth, but a lot of your commercial cattlemen don't want to go to that expense," he says.

Treatment Options

Once hardware disease is diagnosed, there are several treatment options, depending on the value of the animal and the severity of the condition.

Hemphill says in the more serious cases, treatment may not be a viable solution.

"Unless you're looking at a very valuable breeding animal, you've got to weigh the options, and treatment may not even be a choice. You've really got to look at the economics when you get to this sort of a situation," he says.