A Study of Sheep during Starvation and Water Deprivation

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Abstract
A study was made of sheep in metabolism stalls deprived of feed and water for 36 hours. Two sheep received a ration that supplied the maintenance requirements of TDN, two received the above ration plus 11 percent sodium chloride. A three day pre-shrink, and a 36-hour shrink without feed or water followed by a four day post-shrink period, was the experimental design. Water consumption was low after 36 hours shrink, and did not reach pre-shrink levels until feed was offered. Feed refusals occurred after the shrink. Changes in blood plasma sodium and chloride did not show trends during the experiment. A rise in blood hematocrits and plasma albumin of the high sodium chloride sheep was noted during the 36 hours shrink, while no changes in these constituents were observed in the sheep on the basal ration. Urinary volume was much larger for the sheep on the high salt rations during the pre-shrink and post-shrink periods than for the sheep on the basal ration. During the shrink period both groups of sheep showed a marked decrease in the rate of urine flow and at the end of the shrink urine flow for both groups of sheep was the same. The patterns of urinary sodium and chloride excretions rates were similar in both groups of sheep and resembled the pattern of urine flow. In the high salt sheep, the rate of nitrogen excretion in the urine dropped to a very low level during the shrink. The rate of urinary nitrogen excretion by the sheep fed basal ration did not drop to any great extent during the period of water and food deprivation. While the sheep receiving the high salt ration lost 7.5 percent of their body weight, the sheep on the basal ration lost approximately 5 percent of their body weight during the shrink. Negative potassium balances, equal for both groups of sheep, were noted during the shrink. The nitrogen balance was negative during the shrink for both groups of sheep, but a larger amount of nitrogen was lost by the sheep fed the basal ration. An amount of nitrogen was retained during the post-shrink period which more than compensated for the loss of nitrogen during the shrink. Extracellular fluid calculated from the sodium balance indicated no change during the shrink for the sheep fed the basal ration, but did indicate a loss of extracellular fluid by the high salt sheep. Calculations of the extracellular fluid from the chloride balance showed a loss of extracellular fluid for the sheep fed the basal ration and a very large loss by the sheep fed the high sodium chloride ration. Copyright © . .

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