Traumatic reticulo-peritonitis in cattle in slaughterhouses in Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zair and Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen regions: Importance and main risk factors

Traumatic Reticuloperitonitis (TRP) in cattle is caused by ingestion of a foreign body (FB), which perforates the reticulum wall and can subsequently penetrate adjacent organs. The objective of this study was to determine the frequency of this condition in cattle in two main cattle breeding regions of Morocco and its associated risk factors. A total of 408 randomly selected cattle were inspected from 14 slaughterhouses in the regions of Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zair and Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hsen. Questionnaire data on age, sex, origin etc. was collected for each animal. The percentage of cattle found to have at least one foreign body (FB) within the reticulum or rumen was 20% (82/408), and 80% of these foreign bodies were found to be ferromagnetic. Post-mortem findings were detected in 3.4% (14/408) of TRP cases. Cattle breed was found to be statistically highly significant with regards to the presence of TRP (p<0.001). Moreover, FB type and size influenced significantly the probability of presence of TRP in cattle (p=0.020 and p=0.001 respectively). This study has demonstrated the absence of adequate preventive measures for TRP in cattle in the studied regions.

Keywords: Traumatic Reticuloperitonitis, Foreign body, Cattle, Slaughterhouses, Morocco.