A 10-year-old suckler cow in Co Sligo died after she swallowed a piece of fencing wire, Sligo’s regional veterinary lab discovered.

The cow had become emaciated after calving and after she died, the carcase was examined by RVL staff.

They found a 5cm piece of strong fencing wire had perforated wall of the reticulum, the first part of the cow’s stomach.

They diagnosed traumatic reticuloperitonitis, a condition more commonly known as hardware disease.

Hardware disease

Noting their findings in the monthly regional vet lab report, the vets wrote: “Traumatic reticuloperitonitis or hardware disease is not uncommon in cows because any wire or other metal present in the feed is swallowed without chewing in the first instance.

“The position of the reticulum and its honeycomb inner surface tend to trap pieces of wire, which then become embedded in the mucosa.”

Strenuous pressing at the time of calving can force the sharp wires through the wall of the reticulum, allowing the contents of the stomach to leak out.

This can cause peritonitis, a potentially lethal inflammation of the lining of the abdomen.

If the wire penetrates the liver or spleen, it can result in abscesses.

In some cases, the wire can even penetrate the diaphragm, causing more lung-related problems such as pleuritis and pneumonia and heart problems such as pericarditis and myocarditis.

Examined

The suckler cow was just one of 878 adult animals examined by the country’s six RVLS at Athlone, Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Sligo, and Dublin in March this year.

The labs also examined 803 foetal carcases during the same month, as well as 3,770 diagnostic samples.

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