Foreign Body Syndrome in Large Ruminants

Cattle and buffaloes are indiscriminate feeders because they cannot distinguish metallic materials from feed and don't completely masticate the food before swallowing. As a result, they consume sharp metallic items like nails or wires, which, due to the reticulum's honeycomb structure, settle in it and puncture it (Fig. 1). This causes a condition known as "Foreign body syndrome" (FBS) and is also known as “Hardware Disease", "sharp foreign body syndrome" (SFBS) or "traumatic reticulo-peritonitis" (TRP). Due to inadequate waste management and lack of recycling of industrial waste, foreign body syndrome has been seen in cattle, particularly in developing nations