Diagnosis and management of trichobezoars in a sheep

This paper describes the diagnosis, surgical treatment and resolution of trichobezoars in a Santander Creole sheep from Santander, Colombia. A 2‐month‐old female sheep was presented with bilateral abdominal distention, pain upon abdominal palpation indicating the presence of a spherical and malleable foreign body, absence of ruminal movements, soft and mucoid faeces and the presence of two radiopaque structures indicative of foreign bodies within the rumen. The ultrasound confirmed a marked acoustic shadow at the level of the right middle mesogastric quadrant. To resolve the condition, a rumenotomy was performed: the foreign bodies were extracted and the structure and diagnosis of trichobezoars were confirmed. The recommendation was to improve the nutritional needs of the herd to avoid these digestive disorders. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a diagnosis and surgical treatment of trichobezoars in a Creole sheep from the Department of Santander, Colombia.