Liquid Diets for Ruminants
In most cases the most practical and least expensive way to force-feed ruminants is the blender-type or slurry diet. Hypo- phagic adult cattle and other ruminants may be force-fed a suspension of alfalfa meal and/or slurry made from soaked complete pelleted feeds.
Some classic examples where forcefeeding may be indicated include cows with hepatic lipidosis, cattle with balling gun injuries/retropharyngeal trauma, mandibular fractures, tetanus, or listeriosis where oral feeding is either impossible or contraindicated. Administration of the enteral feedings can be achieved simply by passing an ororu- menal tube (adequate for patients who may only necessitate enteral feeding for a short period of time) or placing a temporary rumen cannula (for patients necessitating enteral feeding for extended periods of time. An additional advantage of rumen cannula feeding is that the clinician is no longer limited to a strictly liquid diet as grain and finely chopped hay can be administered through the rumen cannula. Administration of ruminal liquor obtained from a healthy donor cow provides a good source of microflora, as well as volatile fatty acids and essential amino acids as an energy source in hypophagic cows, and is felt to be beneficial in all ruminant species.48
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