Brar, A. P. S.Sharma, Swati2018-08-142018-08-142015http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810064472The present study was conducted on 50 clinical cases presented in the large animal clinics GADVASU, Ludhiana, to investigate the pathology of various gastrointestinal (GIT) disorders affecting bovines in advanced pregnancy. Disorders were divided into different categories on the basis of clinical examination, radiography, ultrasonography, hematology, clinical chemistry and peritoneal fluid analysis. The various gastrointestinal disorders recorded were peritonitis (n=16), late pregnancy indigestion (n=7), traumatic pericarditis (n=7), diaphragmatic hernia (n=6), omasal impaction (n=3), paralytic ileus (n=3) and miscellaneous conditions (n=8). Higher occurrence of GIT disorders was seen in buffaloes (66.7%) than cows (33.3%). General clinical signs in GIT disorders included anorexia, reduced water intake, fever, tympany, depression and reduced faecal output or loss of defecation. The hematology revealed anemia, neutrophilic leukocytosis and thrombocytosis and the clinical chemistry, a significant increase in aspartate amino transferase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, total bilirubin, globulin and creatine kinase. Peritoneal fluid analysis showed presence of peritonitis in 18 cases characterised by an increase in total cell count, total protein, albumin and lactate levels as well as its cytology. The study also included 21 animals that died of GIT disorders in advanced pregnancy and the distribution of disorders confirmed at postmortem was similar to those recorded in the live animals. Histopathology revealed degenerative changes in rumen, reticulum and omasum, abomasal ulcers, ischaemic necrosis of intestine, hepatic cirrhosis, nephrosis, myocardial degeneration and rarefaction of lymphoid tissues. Immunohistochemistry done on the intestine of 21 cases affected with GIT disorders elucidated the presence of Clostridium perferingens in 11 cases showing necrotic enteritis. A significant finding of present study was marked liver damage in nearly all the cases of GIT disorders of live and dead animals possibly perpetuated by advanced pregnancyEnglishThesis