Incidence and consequence of surgical removal of gastric foreign bodies in West African Dwarf goats in Ibadan

Abstract

Gastric Foreign Body (GFB) in West African Dwarf (WAD) goats increased in cases presented to Ruminant section of a tertiary Veterinary institution. This study evaluates incidence and effects of surgical removal of GFB in WAD goats. Ambulatory cases during the dry season, cases presented to the Ruminant section and WAD goats acquired for this study were evaluated. GFB in the study goats were removed surgically and blood collected for both haematology and biochemistry weekly for three weeks after. Prevalence in ambulatory cases (n=809) was 43%, in cases presented to the clinic (n=70), 73% and the nineteen goats purchased for the study had nylon GFB (100%). The study revealed a significant neutrophilia following removal of nylon GFB. The blood biochemistry also revealed significant difference (p<0.05) in AST between the second and pre-surgical treatment, one and third week values. Protein values were also significantly different (p<0.05) in the first week to other values. These suggest that removal of nylon GFB causes significant changes in blood and biochemistry postoperatively. Thus removal of GFB in WAD goats requires post-operative nursing care. Enforcement of legislation to discourage littering with nylon and feed supplementation during scarcity of forage may reduce incidence of GFB in WAD goats.

Keywords: Nylon gastric foreign body, Incidence, Surgical removal, West African Dwarf goat