That Bloated Feeling

We had some friends over last night , and despite my Cholesterol reducing diet I had a bit of a bloated feeling, after many sandwiches in the garden. The over full feeling was alleviated by a game involving 6 adults 4 children a terrier and a football. There were no rules , considerable physical contact ,no outcome and a lot of fun. The unnamed game ended when it got so dark we couldn't see the ball or the other combatants.

This morning was a very slow start, not being the highly tuned athlete I once was . A quick scan of a pen of 60 weanling's ( cattle that have just gone off milk to a solid diet) revealed trouble. Many years of looking at animals, and cattle particularly gives you an eye for trouble. One of the bunch was suffering from Bloat and if you read what is contained in the link you will be a bloat expert.

The young Hereford in question was looking pretty sorry for himself and very full of gas. The old remedy is to give them a drink ofbicarbonate of soda and warm water,then walk them round to help the gas escape from one end or the other. After an hour it was obvious the remedy had failed and the vet was called. John is a brilliant cattle vet, and vet in general and acted quickly. While Steve and I restrained the patient, who John called "Fred", perhaps that's his name and I didn't know?, a small incision was made in the left side. When I say incision it was more of a nick and a plastic cannula inserted into the top of the rumen. This is a tube that allows the offending ( and offensive smelling ) gas to escape.

The whoosh of escaping gas left Fred about 30% smaller and a 100% happier. It would not have been long until the pressure inside Fred would have suffocated him, so the nick was in the nick of time( am i trying too hard ?). The cannula will stay in Fred for a couple of weeks until normal digestion returns.

What a dramatic start to the week, and tomorrow Sues Aussie friends head for home and we are taking them down to Heathrow, which could well be another drama, I do hope not!