Urinary 3-Methoxy-4-Hydroxymandelic Acid Excretion and Serum Electro-phoretic Patterns in the Normal and Bloated Bovine

WORK has been in progress here since 1956 to determine if a metabolic difference exists between normal bovines and those subject to tympanites (bloat). Serum epinephrine was first measured on normal and bloated animals by the method of Weil-Malherbe and Bone 1 , since a difference in rate of metabolism was suspected. Although the trend for normal cattle to have a higher level of epinephrine was apparent, the results were largely inconclusive, owing to excessive variation among animals. The epinephrine averaged 2.35 and 2.03 µg/100 ml. whole blood for 27 normal and 13 bloated cattle, respectively.