Synonyms

No known synonym

Name of the disease in English

Nitrate, ammonitrate, nitrite poisoning

The disease in brief

Nitrates are present around animals in the form of ammonium nitrate fertilizers, polluted water, and of course in many plants: Cruciferous fodder, certain rye grasses, immature cereals, sorghum, etc.; a drought, certain herbicides, a temporary delay in the development of the plant will cause an over-concentration of nitrates; these nitrates are transformed into nitrites in the rumen and these nitrites will transform hemoglobin into methemoglobin which no longer transports oxygen and gives a brown-gray tint to the mucous membranes.

Clinic & diagnosis

Suspicion may be based on observations of purplish (cyanosis) or gray-brown mucous membranes combined with tachypnea, or jerky or irregular breathing found in cattle with:

-Muscle tremors or contractions, a weak bovine that staggers or staggers, or is ataxic

-Cattle with impossible lifting

-Cattle with diarrhea

- Brutal deaths

We then find an intake of a new food or fodder rich in soluble nitrogen (young grass, grazing, etc.) or a consumption of fodder or chemical product rich in nitrates (nitrites)

Typical sign of the disease

No description

Pictures

See below

Diagnostic formulas

No description

Differential diagnosis

-Cherry laurel poisoning N136

-Poisoning by a cyanogenic plant: Water glyceria, Flax, Creeping clover, Vetch, Grass pea N138

-Emphysema of the regains-subacute to chronic form RS28.1

-Anaphylaxis RS27.2

Withto confirm a suspicion?

A blood sample on anticoagulant (heparin-Green Cap) allows the confirmation test measuring dphenylamine to be carried out in a specialized laboratory.

Prognosis and treatment

The prognosis is reserved for all seriously affected cattle; treatment with intravenous methylene blue (1-2 mg/kg in aqueous solution at 1%) allows recovery of poisoned cattle.

Prevention

Monitor cattle on cruciferous crops in the off-season when temperature variations can disrupt forage growth.

Do not exceed the doses of ammonium nitrate on fodder.

References

Veterinary Medicine-Pocket companion -9th Edition BLOOD DC-page 592