[Oesophagotracheal fistula in a calf. Report of a case (author's transl)].

The case of a nine-month-old Dutch-Friesian heifer calf with an oesophagotracheal fistula which probably was congenital, is reported. The fistula passed obliquely from the caudodorsal to the cranioventral region, from the ventral portion of the oesophagus to the dorsal part of the trachea, into which it opened at a point one cm. cranial to the eparterial bronchus. The animal had been affected with bloat at birth and had had difficulty in drinking as a young calf. It did not show any clinical symptoms during the grazing period. It was not until the animal was housed at an age of nine months that bloat recurred as a result of inflation of the rumen by the fistula.