Cattle and Their Diseases Part 14

"It appears evident that this disease, in all its forms and degrees of intensity, seeks vent or release; in other words, Nature conflicting with it, throws it off its track, or balance, and offers means of escape, or shows it a door by which it may make its exit. In the first stage of the disease, the dermoid (skin) tissues make the effort. In the inflammatory, the serous, and the congestive, the mucous gangrene seeks vent; if obtained, mortification is prevented; if not, mortification directly supervenes, and death terminates the case.

"In the case to which I refer, observation confirms my opinion that absolute mortification without vent determines the gangrene of the blood, and is hardly curable; but that gangrene's finding vent determines it to be curable, and the recovery highly probable."

EPIZOoTIC CATARRH.

Catarrh frequently a.s.sumes an epizootic form of a very virulent character, originating spontaneously and extending over a large section of country at or about the same time. A cold spring succeeding a mild winter, is peculiarly productive of malignant catarrh. This is one of the most distressing and fatal diseases to which cattle are subject.

_Symptoms._--The animal appears dull, and unwilling to move about, staggering when forced to do so; obstinate costiveness is usually one of the earliest symptoms, succeeded by diarrhoea, which is equally difficult of management; sometimes, however, diarrhoea is present from the first; the animal loses flesh rapidly; the coat is staring; appet.i.te is lost; tumors form about the head, neck, back, and joints, which appear to be filled with air, and upon pressure cause a crepitating sound; saliva flows from the mouth, becoming very fetid as the disease progresses. The animal always dies of putrefaction.

_Treatment._--This disease should be treated early, or not at all. Good nursing is very essential. When costiveness is present, give Barbadoes aloes, one ounce; croton-oil, ten drops; mix together; or give one pint of linseed-oil, to which add from ten to twenty drops of castor-oil. If the bowels are not open in twenty-four hours, give four ounces of sulphate of magnesia every six hours until they are opened. Follow this with tincture of aconite, ten drops in water, every four hours, until the fever has abated.

Bleeding has been recommended by some writers; but the author has failed to experience any benefit from resorting to it, but, on the contrary, has seen much injury result from the use--or, rather, the abuse--of the lancet. He is, indeed, inclined to attribute much of the fatality attending this disease to indiscriminate blood-letting.

When much debility exists, the animal should be sustained by tonics and stimulants. One ounce of nitric ether and half an ounce of tincture of opium, given in a little water, will be found beneficial. It should be given twice a day. Pulverized gentian-root, one ounce; Jamaica ginger, half an ounce; pulverized cloves, half an ounce; mixed, and divided into four powders, one to be given at night and at morning; will be found useful, in place of the opium and ether.

FARDEL.

This disease is properly known by the name of clue-bound. The manyplus, or omasum (third stomach), frequently becomes so choked up with food that it is hard and dry, and the operation of the digestive organs is very seriously impaired. The animal eats voraciously, for a time, but stops suddenly and trembles; the countenance a.s.sumes a peculiarly haggard appearance; there is a wild expression of the eye; a foaming at the mouth; a tendency to pitch forward, and at times a falling head-foremost to the ground. Occasionally, the symptoms are very active, speedily terminating in death. There are few diseases of a const.i.tutional character in which the stomach is not, more or less, sympathetically involved.

"Toward the end of September, 1746, a great number of cows died at Osterwich, in the princ.i.p.ality of Halberstadt. Lieberkuhn, a celebrated physician,--there were no veterinary surgeons at that time,--was sent to examine into the nature of the disease, which was supposed to be one of the species of murrain that was then committing such ravages among the cattle in various parts of the Continent. There were none of the tumors, or pestilential buboes, that, in an earlier or later period of the malady, usually accompanied and characterized murrain; but upon inspection of the dead bodies, considerable peritoneal inflammation was found; the first and second stomachs were filled with food, but the third stomach was the palpable seat of the disease; its leaves were black and gangrened. The ma.s.s contained between the leaves was black, dry, and so hard that it could scarcely be cut with a scalpel. It intercepted the pa.s.sage of the food from the first two stomachs to the fourth; and this latter stomach was empty and much inflamed. Neither the heart, nor the lungs, nor the intestines exhibited any trace of disease.

Twelve cows were opened, and the appearances were nearly the same in all of them."

_Treatment._--Give one and a half pounds of Epsom-salts, dissolved in three pints of water; or one quart of potash, three times daily, dissolved in water, will be found useful in this disease.

FOUL IN THE FOOT.

This is caused by hard or irritating substances making their way in between the claws of the foot, causing inflammation, and sometimes ulceration, in the parts. The pasterns swell, and the animal becomes lame.

The foot should be thoroughly washed, and all foreign substances removed. A pledget of tow, saturated with tar and sprinkled with powdered sulphate of copper, should be inserted between the claws. This usually requires but one or two applications.

GARGET.

This is a hard, knotty condition of the udder, which sometimes follows calving, in consequence of the sudden distention of the bag with milk; and the inflammation which supervenes causes a congealed or coagulated condition of the milk to take place, of which, if neglected, suppuration and abscesses are the result.

_Treatment._--Let the calf suck the dam as speedily as possible, and, if the hardness is not then removed, foment the udder with warm water; after which, wipe it dry, and apply to the entire surface melted lard as hot as the animal will bear. This is, generally, all that is required, the most obstinate cases yielding to it. If abscesses form, they should be lanced.

GASTRO-ENTERITIS.

This disease--otherwise known as wood-evil, or moor-ill--arises from eating the buds of oak, young ash, and other trees, which are of a very highly stimulating or irritating character. As the intestinal ca.n.a.l is liable to inflammatory action from irritant substances admitted into it, animals are found to become diseased from eating too freely of these vegetable substances.

_Symptoms._--Loss of appet.i.te and suspended rumination; mouth hot; skin dry; pulse from sixty to seventy; swelling and pain of the belly; obstinate constipation; faeces hard and covered with blood; urine of a strong odor, highly colored, and voided with difficulty.

_Treatment._--The animal should be bled, and a strong purgative administered, followed by aconite and belladonna, as in enteritis.

Injections of Castile-soap and water should be freely used; the application of the mustard, hartshorn, and water to the belly will also be found very beneficial.

HOOSE.

This disease--known also as catarrh--is occasionally the sequence of coryza, but more frequently it arises from an impure atmosphere; consequently, in cow-houses where animals are crowded together in numbers, it is most frequently found. Scanty provender, and of an inferior quality, is among the exciting causes of hoose, producing, as it does, a debilitated state of the system, which, upon exposure of the animal to cold, or wet, hastens the disorder. Some breeds of cattle are peculiarly liable to this disease, which, if not arrested in its early stage, runs on, involving the lungs, and frequently terminating in consumption. Of all our domestic animals, neat cattle are most subject to pulmonary diseases. This is attributable to the neglect and exposure which are far too often their lot. Butchers will testify that a large portion of all cattle slaughtered have abscesses and other diseases of the lungs.

_Symptoms._--Loss of appet.i.te; muzzle dry; coat rough, or staring; respiration quickened; horns hot; ears, nose, and legs cold; husky cough; pulse from sixty to seventy, small and thready; bowels frequently constipated.

_Treatment._--Give one ounce of the following powders every six hours, until the bowels are opened: Barbadoes aloes, one and half ounces; nitrate of pota.s.sa, half an ounce; ginger, six drachms; mix and divide into six powders. Setons in the dewlap are often of great benefit.

HOOVE.

Hoove, or blown, so common, and often so speedily fatal in cattle, is the result of fermentation in the _rumen_, or paunch, in consequence of the animal's having eaten large quant.i.ties of wet gra.s.s, luxuriant clover, turnips, etc. An acc.u.mulation of gas is the result of this fermentation, which greatly disturbs the haunch and left side of the belly, causing much pain to the animal, and frequently threatening suffocation.

_Treatment._--Drench the animal with one ounce of spirits of hartshorn in one quart of water, the object being to neutralize the gas which is present in the rumen; or, two ounces of table salt dissolved in one quart of water will be found very effectual. If these do not speedily give relief, an active purge should be given. Injections of soap and water should be freely used. If the case still proves obstinate, and the life of the animal is threatened, the paunch should be punctured. For this purpose, the trochar--an instrument specially adapted--should be used; but, in the absence of an instrument, an ordinary pocket-knife may be employed, taking care not to make a large opening. The proper point to operate is midway between the last rib and the prominent point of the hip-bone, about twelve inches from the centre of the back or loins. Few cases have a fatal termination where this operation has been properly performed.

HYDATIDS.

Worms in the brain occasionally occur, causing great uneasiness to the animal and generally proving fatal.

The symptoms are, loss of appet.i.te; suspended rumination; a fevered condition of the system; horns and ears hot; respiration disturbed; coat staring, etc. No course of treatment will prove efficacious in this disease.

Pressure on the brain may occur from an acc.u.mulation of water, tumors, bruises, etc., in the cranial case. In either case, the same effects are produced as are observed in apoplexy.

INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER.

Inflammation of the bladder generally accompanies inflammation of the kidneys, though it is sometimes found disconnected and alone. It is occasionally caused by calculous concretions in the bladder,--which should be removed,--causing very acute abdominal pain to the animal. She makes frequent efforts to stale, pa.s.sing but a few drops of urine at a time. The pulse is full and rapid; mouth clammy; nose dry; eyes bloodshot; appet.i.te lost; moaning, and walking with a staggering gait.

_Treatment._--Inject into the bladder one quart of tepid water, and from one to two ounces of tincture of opium mixed together. Give internally one of the following powders every hour until relieved; nitrate of pota.s.sa, one ounce; tartrate of antimony, and pulverized digitalis leaves, each one drachm; mix, and divide into six powders. Mucilaginous draughts should be freely given.

Rupture of the bladder sometimes occurs, but there are no symptoms by which it may be known; and, if there were, no service could be rendered in the way of repairing the injury; the animal must die.

INFLAMMATION OF THE HAW.

The ox, like the horse, has a membrane of semilunar form in the inner corner of the eye, which is capable of being thrown over the entire eyeball, for the purpose of cleansing the eye from any foreign substance which may get into it. This membrane is commonly called the haw, and is susceptible of attacks of inflammation, which cause it to swell, frequently even closing up the eye.

_Treatment._--Give a dose of physic, and, if the animal is plethoric, extract a little blood from the vein on the same side as the affected eye. Apply to the eye either of the following washes: tincture of opium, one ounce; rain-water, one pint; or, tincture of aconite, one drachm, to one pint of water. Bathe two or three times a day.

INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEYS.

This disease--sometimes called nephritis--occurs occasionally in cattle in consequence of their eating bad or unwholesome food, or of the abuse of diuretics, etc.

The symptoms are very insidious in their approach. The loins are very tender upon pressure; the urine is voided in small quant.i.ties. As the disease advances, the symptoms become more marked and acute. The animal is dull, and feeds daintily; the evacuation of urine is attended with increased pain, and the urine is highly colored and b.l.o.o.d.y; the nose is dry; the horns, ears, and extremities are cold; respiration hurried; the pulse full, hard, and throbbing.