[New therapy for acute abomasal tympany in calves]

Abomasal bloat in calves can be a rapidly progressing, life-threatening disease. Gas must be removed from the tympanic abomasum as fast as possible, to prevent the calf from choking. It is very difficult to reach the abomasum with a stomach tube and in most cases it is also not possible to remove all gas from the abomasum by a single puncture in the distended right flank. A report is given about a method of abomasal puncture that can remove all abomasal gas by one single puncture. The calf is turned upside down and a puncture is performed with a 1.4 x 50 mm needle median on the highest point of the distended abdominal wall just between the umbilicus and xiphoid. Between 1985 and 1992 twenty of twenty-one calves that were suffering from abomasal tympany could be healed without further complications by one single puncture. When the state of health is getting worse or when the calf is bloating again within 2 or 3 hours after the puncture, a diagnostic laparotomy must be done, in order to detect and to treat a possibly twisted abomasum.