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* Due to their unselective feeding habits, cattle may injest a variety of foreign bodies.
** Heavier metallic objects consumed become lodged in the [[The Reticulum - Anatomy & Physiology|reticulum]], and may penetrate the reticular wall under the influence of the continuous [[The Reticulum - Anatomy & Physiology#Ruminoreticular contraction|reticular movements]].
====Clinical====
* Signs are often vague, but adult cattle show abdominal pain with hunched backs and grunting on the "bar test".
====Pathogenesis====
* Cattle cannot spit out metallic agents (e.g. screws, nails, pieces of wire, bottle tops)once in their mouths, and so ingest them.
* Objects often become sharper in the [[The Reticulum - Anatomy & Physiology|reticulum]] due to reticular juices.
* Object penetrates through [[The Reticulum - Anatomy & Physiology|reticulum]] wall due to [[The Reticulum - Anatomy & Physiology#Ruminoreticular contraction|reticular movements]]. This is enhanced in pregnancy and parturition.
====Pathology====
* '''Pathological changes depend on the direction of penetration; this is usually in an anterior-ventral direction.'''
* Pyogenic bacteria escape from the [[The Reticulum - Anatomy & Physiology|reticulum]], causing one or more of the following:
# Localised peritonitis
# Local fibrinous adhesions
# Penetration of the diaphragm and pericardium resulting in pericarditis. Pericardium is enormously thickened with oedema, and purulent fluid containing fibrin clots accumulates in the sac giving “bread and butter heart” - classical traumatic reticulitis.[[Image:traumatic pericarditis.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Traumatic pericarditis (Courtesy of BioMed Image Archive)]]
# Penetration of the heart itself resulting in myocarditis and endocarditis
# Penetration of the lungs and pleura resulting in pneumonia and pleurisy
# Liver and splenic abscesses
::* Large abscesses in the dorsal part of the [[Liver - Anatomy & Physiology|liver]] may erode into posterior vena cava to produce thrombosis.
* Very thick-walled, pus-filled abscesses form around points of penetration, which may be multiple.
* The foreign object may be found in one of these abscesses, or free in the reticular lumen[[Category:Forestomach - Inflammatory Pathology]][[Category:Cattle]]