Cattle and Their Diseases Part 15

_Treatment._--Give one pint of linseed-oil and ten drops of castor-oil, mixed together; follow this with small doses of salts once a day, for three or four days; give injections of water, one half a gallon to two ounces of tincture of arnica. Mustard applications to the loins are also very useful.

INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER.

Diseases of the liver are of very common occurrence,--a fact with which all beef-butchers are familiar. Perhaps no organ in the animal economy is so liable to disease. The obscurity of the symptoms and the good condition of the animal prevent its discovery, as a general thing, during its lifetime. When, however, the disease a.s.sumes an active form,--known as the yellows, jaundice, or inflammation of the liver,--the symptoms are more readily detected.

_Symptoms._--A yellowish color of the eye will be observed; skin, urine, etc., highly colored; soreness, on pressure, on the right side; loss of appet.i.te; dullness; constipation of the bowels, etc.

_Treatment._--Calomel is the most reliable medicine known to pract.i.tioners for diseases of the liver. Its abuse, however, has brought it into disrepute. Yet, as with ordinary care it may be advantageously used, we will prescribe it as that upon which the most dependence is to be placed, and in doing so, will endeavor to have it used safely.

Bleeding has been recommended: but the author has never found any benefit resulting. Give Epsom-salts, in doses of four ounces each, every night, with one scruple of calomel, until the animal is relieved.

Mustard and water should be frequently applied to the right side, and well rubbed in.

LARYNGITIS.

This disease is of rare occurrence in cattle. In it, the mucous membrane lining the larynx is in a very irritable condition; the least pressure upon the parts affected causes intensely excruciating pain; the respiration becomes quick, painful, and laborious; the animal often appears to be hungry, yet does not eat much, in consequence of the pain occasioned by the act of swallowing.

_Treatment._--Apply to the throat externally strong mustard, mixed, with equal parts of aqua ammonia and water, to a thin paste, every hour, until it produces an effect upon the skin; sponging the parts each time with warm water before applying the mustard. The animal should not be bled. Give upon the tongue, or in drink, half-drachm doses of nitrate of pota.s.sa, every three or four hours, until relief is obtained. If suffocation threatens, the operation of tracheotomy is the only resort.

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ABERDEENSHIRE POLLED BULL.]

Cloths saturated with cold water, wrapped around the neck so as to cover the larynx, frequently afford relief. A purgative will also be found useful.

LICE.

Cattle are very subject to lice, particularly when they are neglected, half-starved, and in poor condition. Good care and good feeding--in connection with the treatment recommended in mange, to which the reader is referred--will comprise all that is requisite.

MANGE.

Mange, or leprosy, is one of the most unpleasant and difficult diseases to manage of all the ailments to which cattle are subject requiring the nicest care and attention to render it easy of cure. An animal badly nursed will not, under the most skillful treatment, quickly recover. Its causes are in the main, due to poor food, which produces a debilitated condition of the system, and in connection with a want of cleanliness, causes a development of the _acari_, or minute insects, exciting very great irritation upon the skin and causing the cow to rub herself against every object with which she comes in contact. The hair falls off; a scurfy appearance of the skin is perceptible; and the animal is poor in condition and in milk. The great trouble in treating this disease springs from its contagious character; for, no sooner is the animal, oftentimes, once free from the _acari_ than it comes in contact with some object against which it has previously been rubbing, when the _acari_ which were left upon that object are again brought in contact with the animal, and the disease is reproduced. If, immediately after the proper applications are made, the animal is removed to other quarters, and not allowed to return to the former ones for six or eight weeks, there is, generally speaking, but little trouble in treating the disease.

Take the animal upon a warm, sunny day, and with a scrubbing-brush cleanse the skin thoroughly with Castile-soap and water; when dry, apply in the same manner the following mixture; white h.e.l.lebore, one ounce; sulphur flower, three ounces; gas-water, one quart; mix all well together. One or two applications are, generally, all that will be required. Give internally one of the following powders in the feed, night and morning: flowers of sulphur, two ounces; black antimony, one ounce; nitrate of pota.s.sa, one ounce; mix, and divide into eight powders.

MURRAIN.

This is one of the most malignant diseases to which cattle are liable.

Fortunately, however, true murrain is comparatively rare in this great stock-raising country.

The entire system seems to partake of the disease. The first indication of its approach is a feverish condition of the system, attended with a frequent and painful cough; the pulse is small, hard, and rapid. As the disease advances, the respiration becomes disturbed; the flanks heave; vesicular eruption is observed upon the teats, mouth, and feet; the horns are cold; the animal is sometimes lame; constipation and, sometimes, diarrhoea are accompanying symptoms; _faeces_ black and fetid; the eyes weep and become much swollen; great tenderness along the spine; a brown or b.l.o.o.d.y discharge from the nose and mouth; the animal moans incessantly, grinds his teeth, rarely lies down, but to get up again quickly; finally, the breath becomes very offensive; tumors make their appearance in various parts of the body, which, in favorable cases, suppurate, and discharge a fetid matter.

_Treatment._--Give one fourth of a pound of Epsom-salts, with one drachm of Jamaica ginger, twice a day, for two or three days. A bottle of porter, twice a day, will be found serviceable. Very little medicine is required internally in this disease, but much depends upon good nursing.

External applications are chiefly to be depended upon. A solution of chloride of lime should be applied to the eruptions, or a solution of the chloride of zinc, twenty grains to an ounce of water; or, of sulphate of zinc, two drachms to a pint of water; or pulverized charcoal applied to the parts will be found useful.

NAVEL-ILL.

Inflammation of the navel in calves occasionally occurs, causing redness, pain, and sudden swelling in the part affected. This disease, if not promptly attended to, speedily carries off the creature.

_Treatment._--Foment the part well with warm hop-tea; after which, the application of a cloth, well saturated with lead-water and secured by bandages, should be applied. Internally, doses of Epsom-salts, of two ounces each, dissolved in half a pint of water, should be given until the bowels are acted upon. After the inflammation has subsided, to counteract the weakness which may follow, give a bottle of porter two or three times a day.

OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE OESOPHAGUS.

Choking in cattle is of common occurrence, in consequence of turnips, potatoes, carrots, or other hard substances, becoming lodged in the oesophagus, or gullet.

These obstructions can sometimes be removed by careful manipulations with the hand; but, where this can not be accomplished, the flexible probang should be employed. This is a long India-rubber tube, with a whalebone stillet running through it, so as to stiffen it when in use.

This instrument is pa.s.sed down the animal's throat, and the offending substance is thus pushed down into the stomach.

OPEN JOINTS.

Opening of the joint generally results from accidents, from puncturing with sharp substances, from kicks, blows, etc. These injuries cause considerable nervous irritation in the system, and sometimes cause lock-jaw and death.

_Treatment._--Close up the wound as speedily as possible. The firing-iron will sometimes answer the purpose very well. The author depends more upon the application of collodion--as recommended in his work upon "The Horse and His Diseases" for the same trouble--than upon any other remedy. It requires care in its application, in order to make it adhere firmly. Shoemakers'-wax, melted and applied, answers a very good purpose.

PARTURITION.

In natural labor--as has been suggested in a former part of this work--the aid of man is rarely required in bringing away the calf. But it not infrequently happens that, from malformation or wrong presentation, our a.s.sistance is required in order to deliver the animal.

The brute force, which has been far too often heretofore resorted to, should no longer be tolerated, since the lives of many valuable animals have been sacrificed by such treatment. Very often, by gentle manipulation with the greased hand, the womb can be so dilated as to afford a comparatively easy exit for the _foetus_.

If, however, the calf is presented wrong, it must be pushed back and placed in its proper position, if possible. In natural labor, the fore-legs, with the head lying between them, are presented; in which position--unless deformity, either in the _pelvis_ of the cow, or in the _foetus_, exists--the calf is pa.s.sed with little difficulty, and without a.s.sistance. It sometimes happens that the head of the foetus is turned backward. When this happens, the attendant should at once strip himself to the waist, bathe his arms, and hands with a little sweet-oil, or lard, and introduce them into the _v.a.g.i.n.a_, placing a cord around both fore-feet, and then, pushing them back, search for the head, which is to be brought forward to its proper position. The feet are next to be brought up with it. No force should be used, except when the cow herself makes the effort to expel the calf; otherwise, more harm than good may be done.

A case of this kind recently occurred in the author's practice, being the third within a year. The subject was a cow belonging to William Hance, Esq., of Bordentown, New Jersey. After she had been in labor for some twenty hours, he was called upon to see her. Upon inquiry, he found that several persons had been trying, without success, to relieve her.

She was very much prostrated, and would, doubtless, have died within two or three hours, had no relief been afforded. The legs of the _foetus_ protruded as far as the knees; the head was turned backward, and with the body, pressed firmly into the _v.a.g.i.n.a_, so that it was impossible to return it, or to bring the head forward. The operation of embryotomy was, therefore, at once performed, by cutting away the right shoulder, which enabled the operator, with the aid of his appropriate hooks, to bring the head forward, when the calf came away without further trouble,--the whole operation not requiring fifteen minutes. The _uterus_ was then washed out, and the animal placed in as comfortable a position as possible, and a stimulating draught given, composed of two ounces of nitric ether, one ounce of tincture of opium, and a half pint of water. This was followed with a few doses of Fleming's tincture of aconite, ten drops in a little water, every few hours. In a few days the animal had entirely recovered.

Occasionally, the head comes first, or the head and one leg. In such cases, a cord should be slipped around the jaw and leg, and these then pushed back, so as to allow the other leg to be brought up. When this cannot be done, the _foetus_ can, in most cases, be removed in the original position.

Breech, side, back, and other presentations sometimes occur; in all of which instances, the _foetus_ must be turned in such a position that it can be brought away with as little trouble as possible. When this cannot be accomplished, the only resort is embryotomy, or cutting up of the _foetus_, which operation can only be safely performed by the qualified veterinary surgeon.

Since writing the above, another case has occurred in the author's practice. The cow--belonging to Samuel Barton, Esq., near Bordentown, New Jersey--had been in labor some eighteen hours; upon an examination of the animal, the calf was found to be very much deformed, presenting backwards,--one of the hind-legs having been pulled off by the person or persons a.s.sisting her previous to the author's arrival. Finding it impossible to deliver her in the usual way, embryotomy was in this instance employed. By this means, after taking out the intestines, lungs, etc., of the _foetus_, and cutting away its hind-quarters, the fore-parts were brought away. The head presented a singular appearance; the under jaw was so twisted as to bring the front teeth on the side of the face; the spinal column or back-bone, was turned twice around, resembling a spiral string; the front legs were over the back; the ribs were much contorted; the hind-parts were as much deformed; and, taken altogether, the deformity was the most singular which has been brought under the author's observation.

FREE MARTINS.--It has long been supposed by stockbreeders, that if a cow produce twins, one of which is a male and the other a female, the female is incapable of producing young, but that the male may be a useful animal for breeding purposes. Many instances have occurred when the twin sister of a bull has never shown the least desire for the male.

This indifference to s.e.xual commerce arises, doubtless, from the animal's being but imperfectly developed in the organs of generation.

This fact has been established by the investigations of Mr. John Hunter, who had three of these animals slaughtered for anatomical examination.

The result is thus reported: "The external parts were rather smaller than is customary in the cow. The _v.a.g.i.n.a_ pa.s.sed on, as in the cow, to the opening of the _urethra_, and then it began to contract into a small ca.n.a.l, which pa.s.sed on into the division of the _uterus_ into the two horns; each horn pa.s.sed along the edge of the broad ligament laterally toward the _ovaria_.

"At the termination of these horns were placed both the ovaries and the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es. Both were nearly of the same size, which was about as large as a small nutmeg. To the _ovaria_, I could not find any Fallopian tube.

"To the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es were _vasa deferentia_, but they were imperfect. The left one did not come near the t.e.s.t.i.c.l.e; the right one only came close to it, but did not terminate in the body called the _epididymis_. They were both pervious and opened into the _v.a.g.i.n.a_, near the opening of the _urethra_.

"On the posterior surface of the bladder, or between the _uterus_ and the bladder, were the two bags, called _vesiculae seminales_ in the male, but much smaller than they are in the bull. The ducts opened along with the _vasa deferentia_. This animal, then, had a mixture of all the parts, but all of them were imperfect."

Well-authenticated cases have, however, occurred where the female has bred, and the offspring proved to be good milkers. There are several instances on record of cows' giving birth to three, four, and even five calves at a time. There were on exhibition, in 1862, at Bordentown, New Jersey, three free martins, two sisters and a brother, which were beautiful animals. These were from a cow belonging to Mr. Joab Mershon, residing on Biles Island, situated in the Delaware River, a short distance above Bordentown. They were calved November 1st, 1858, and were therefore nearly four years of age. They had never shown the least desire for copulation. Their aggregate weight was 4300 pounds.