Depraved appetite in dromedary camels: Clinical, ultrasonographic, and postmortem findings

Camels are subjected to a wide variety of nutritional deficiencies as they are largely dependent upon grazing desert plants. As a consequence, the syndrome of pica or depraved appetite is occasionally seen in dromedary camels. The condition is manifested as chewing or eating abnormal things such as wood, dirt, bones, stones, clothes, plastics, mud, sand, or other inanimate objects.

This study was designed to investigate the clinical, ultrasonographic, and postmortem findings in dromedary camels with pica or depraved appetite.

Twenty-five camels of 5 days to 15 years were examined. Owner complaints included depraved appetite, loss of body condition, regurgitation of stomach content, and partial or complete absence of feces. Symptoms described were present for a period varying between 3 days, up to 12 months. The stomach compartments and small and large intestines were scanned using ultrasonography from the right and left sides of the abdomen. Necropsy was carried out on six female and three male camels where the thoracic and abdominal organs were examined with special attention to the digestive system.

The affected animals had a history of gradual loss of body conditions, eating foreign objects, decreased or total absence of feces, and regurgitation of stomach content. Using ultrasound, the foreign body was imaged occluding completely or partially the intestines. Foreign bodies within the rumen could not be visualized with ultrasound. In cases where the rumen is impacted by sand, small pin-points revealing acoustic enhancement were imaged. Foreign bodies were removed from the rumen at exploratory rumenotomy (n = 11), laparotomy (n = 3), or at necropsy (n = 8) in the form of plastics, cloths, sand, mud, wool balls, robes, glasses, or even metallic objects which may be blunt or sharp. Sixteen (64%) of the camels were recovered while the remaining 9 (36%) did not survive.

The syndrome of pica or depraved appetite is an important condition in dromedary resulting in the ingestion of objects other than normal feed. Substantial economic losses are expected as a result of this syndrome. Ultrasonography of the digestive system may help the clinician in some cases to localize of occluding foreign bodies in the intestines, while in the transabdominal scanning of the stomach is valuable only in cases of sand impaction.