My daughters still can’t believe I did it, “it” being the fact that their mother once willingly stuck her arm into the stomach of a living cow.
The occasion was the recent Vetavision sponsored by the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan.
Our tour started out in a lab examining jars containing tapeworms taken from various animals
A rocky mountain wood tick and a cattle warble were to be seen magnified several times. We learned that, not only can cats and dogs transmit fleas to their owners, but the opposite is also possible.
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We moved on to a demonstration of gowning and gloving for surgery and watched a video of Benji, a dog, having cataract surgery.
Downstairs, we visited the live exhibits, and there was something for everyone: cattle and horses, sheep and goats, a llama, “pocket pets”, fish, musk oxen, geese, ducks and chickens.
There were several pictures of the digestive and other tracts of the various species, several skeletons and a display comparing the brains of humans with various other animals. If that didn’t catch one’s fancy, there was the “environmental enrichment” display of favorite chicken toys: rubber snakes, a budgie bell, glittering hard plastic balls, rubber stoppers and fish lures.
There was not a similar display in the swine section, though I’ve been told that pigs with toys are happier and more content than those without.
Back to the fistulated cow. She stood placidly enough, chewing her cud.
With the fistual open, a mass of green hay was all that was visible.
Hand and arm encased to the shoulder in a plastic glove, I was encouraged to reach through the mass, to feel the sides of her stomach, to reach down, down, down, to feel the difference in texture of the hay as it was digested.
The only time the cow paid any attention to me was when I asked if I was hurting her; she glanced over her shoulder at me, then resumed chewing her cud.
I was told that the university has several cows with similar devices. They are used mainly for research. On occasion, I gather, feed samples will be inserted and taken out at various stages to test their digestibility. Not the most pleasant of procedures, but that’s research.
Like other sights and smells in the animal barn, sticking one’s arm into a cow’s stomach is not for everyone.
