Cattle and Their Diseases Part 20

RHEUMATISM.

This is a const.i.tutional inflammatory affection of the joints, affecting the fibrous tissue and serous, or synovial membrane. It is caused by exposure to cold and wet; being quite common in low, marshy sections.

_Symptoms._--Loss of appet.i.te; upon forcing the animal to move, every joint seems stiffened; nose dry; coat staring; constipation is also an attendant symptom; the joints, one or more, become swollen and painful.

This may be regarded as a metastic, or shifting disease; first one part, and then another, seems to be affected.

_Treatment._--Mild purgatives should be used; one-half-ounce doses of colchic.u.m-root pulverized will be found useful; one-ounce b.a.l.l.s of pine-tar may also be given with advantage. As a local application, the author has found nothing to equal kerosene oil, one pint, to two ounces of aqua ammonia, well rubbed in, two or three times a day.

STRANGULATION OF THE INTESTINES.

This disease in cattle,--popularly styled Knot, or Gut-tie,--in consequence of the peculiar arrangement of the abdominal viscera, is of very rare occurrence. When, however, it does occur, the symptoms accompanying are those of inflammation of the intestines.

No kind of treatment will be successful, and the poor brute must suffer until death comes to its relief.

THRUSH IN THE MOUTH.

Aptha, or thrush in the mouth, is a vesicular disease of the mouth, sometimes occurring as an epizootic. It is often mistaken for blain,--inflammation of the tongue, or black tongue,--and usually occurs in the winter, or early in the spring. It appears in the form of vesicles, or pustules all over the mouth, occasionally extending to the outside of the lips. These pustules break, discharging a thin, sanious fluid, leaving minute ulcers in their places.

This disease yields readily to treatment, when it is properly applied.

Three ounces of Epsom-salts, once a day for three or four days, should be given in drench; wash the mouth well with a solution of alum, tincture of myrrh, or vinegar and honey, and it will disappear in a few days.

TUMORS.

These enlargements so common in cattle, have been so admirably described, in the Veterinarian for 1843, by John Ralph, V.S.,--who has been so successful in the treatment of these morbid growths, that the benefit of his experience is here given. He says: "Of all the accidental productions met with among cattle, with the exception of wens, a certain kind of indurated tumor, chiefly situated about the head and throat, has abounded most in my practice.

"The affection often commences in one of the thyroid glands, which slowly but gradually increases in size, feels firm when grasped, and evinces very little tenderness. Generally the attendant is alarmed by a snoring or wheezing noise emitted by the animal in respiration, before he is aware of the existence of any tumefaction. This continues to increase, embracing in its progress the adjacent cellular and muscular tissues, and frequently the submaxillary and parotid glands. It becomes firmly attached to the skin through which an opening is ultimately effected by the pressure of pus from the centre of the tumor.

"The swelling often presents an irregular surface, and various centres of maturation exist; but the evacuations only effect a partial and temporary reduction of its bulk, in consequence of the continued extension of the morbid growth and ulcerative process which often proceed towards the pharynx, rendering respiration and deglut.i.tion still more difficult, until at length the animal sinks from atrophy or _phthisis pulmonalis_.

"In the early part of my practice, having been frustrated in my attempts to establish healthy action in these ulcers, and referring to the works that I had on surgery for information, I concluded that they bore some resemblance to cancer in the human being, and determined to attempt extirpation. Subsequently, numerous cases have occurred in which I have successfully carried that determination into effect. I have had some instances of failure, which failure always arose from some portion of the morbid growth having been left.

"In the first stage, I have reason to believe that the tumor may be dispersed by the general and topical use of the iodurets. After the suppuration, I have tried them in vain.

"As soon as the nature of the tumor is clearly developed, I generally attempt its removal, and, when most prominent by the side of the larynx, I proceed in the following manner:--Having cast the beast, turned the occiput toward the ground, and bolstered it up with bundles of straw, I proceed to make an incision through it, if the skin is free, parallel with, and over, and between the trachea and _sterno-maxillaris_, extending it sufficiently forward into the inter-maxillary s.p.a.ces. If I find it firmly attached to the apex of the tumor, I then enclose it in a curvilinear incision and proceed to detach the healthy skin to beyond the verge of the tumor.

"Its edges being held by an a.s.sistant, the knife is directed downwards through the subcutaneous parts, and all those that exhibit the slightest change from healthy structure are removed.

"By tying any considerable blood-vessel before dividing it, and by using the handle of the scalpel and the fingers in detaching the portion of the parotid gland towards the ear the hemorrhage was always inconsiderable.

"The wound is then treated in the ordinary way; except that detergents and even antiseptics are often needed to arouse healthy action, and the addition of some preparation of iodine is often made to the digestive.

In directing the const.i.tutional treatment, our chief aim must be to support the animal system with plenty of gruel until rumination is restored.

"I need not note that the operation should be performed after the animal has fasted some hours.

"As the success of the operation depends on an entire removal of the diseased parts, and as the submaxillary and parotid glands, with important branches of nerves and blood-vessels, are often enveloped therein, we must not hesitate to remove the former, nor to divide the latter. It has occasionally happened that a rupture has been made in the oesophagus, or pharynx, during the operation. In that case, a portion of the gruel with which the animal is drenched escapes for a few days; but I always found that the wound healed by granulation, without any particular attention.

"The weight of these tumors varies from a few ounces to some pounds. One that I removed from a two-year-old Galloway bullock, weighed six pounds and a quarter. A considerable portion of the skin that covered it was excised and included in the above weight. It comprehended one of the parotid glands, and I had to divide the trunk of the carotid artery and jugular vein.

"This affection may be distinguished from parotiditis and other _phlegmasiae_ by the action of const.i.tutional disturbance, and heat, and tenderness, and by the lingering progress it makes. I was once called to a bull laboring under alarming dyspnoea that had gradually increased.

No external enlargement was perceptible; but on introducing my hand into the mouth, a large polypus was found hanging from the _velum palati_ into the pharynx, greatly obstructing the elevation of the epiglottis and the pa.s.sage of food. After performing tracheotomy, to prevent suffocation, I pa.s.sed a ligature around its pedicle in the way suggested by the old anatomist, Cheselden.

"A section of one of these tumors mostly displays several abscesses, with matter varying in consistency and often very fetid, enclosed in what seems to me to be fibro-cartilaginous cysts, the exterior of which sometimes gradually disappears in the surrounding more vascular abnormal growth. Osseous matter (I judge from the grating of the scalpel upon it) occasionally enters into the composition of the cysts.

"I have treated this affection in cattle of the Long-horned, Short-horned, Galloway, and Highland breeds; and from the number of bulls in this cla.s.s of patients, have reason to conclude that they are more liable to it than the female.

"About twelve months ago, I examined the head of a cow, on the right facial region of which there existed an enormous tumor, extending from the eye to the lips, and which I mistook during life for a periosteal enlargement. On cutting into it, my mistake was evident. There was scarcely a trace of the original bones beneath the ma.s.s; even those forming the nasal sinuses on that side were replaced by a formation much resembling the cysts before alluded to, and full of abscesses. The progress of the disease was decisively marked in the inferior rim of the orbital cavity, where the osseous matter was being removed, and the morbid structure deposited."

ULCERS ABOUT THE JOINTS.

Occasionally, the joints a.s.sume a tumefied appearance, generally ulcerating, and causing painful wounds.

_Treatment._--The application of one part of alum to two parts of prepared chalk, powdered and sprinkled upon the parts, is usually all that is required.

WARBLES.

It has been a prevalent opinion among farmers, that warbles are so many evidences of the good condition of their cattle. It must, however, be borne in mind that the warbles are the _larvae_ of the _oestrus bovis_, which is said to be the most beautiful variety of gad-fly. This fly, judging from the objects of its attack, must be particularly choice in its selection of animals upon which to deposit its eggs, as it rarely chooses those poor in flesh, or in an unhealthy condition. From this circ.u.mstance, probably, has arisen the opinion above-mentioned.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOME AGAIN.]

These warbles--or _larvae_ of the _oestrus bovis_--so nearly resemble bots in the horse--or _larvae oestrus equi_--that, were it not for their increased size, they might readily be mistaken the one for the other. There is, however, one other difference, and that is in the rings which encircle the body; those of the former being perfectly smooth, while those of the latter are p.r.i.c.kly, and from one third to one half smaller.

The author was called, in the year 1856, to see the prize cow, Pet, belonging to James Kelly, of Cleveland, Ohio, whose extraordinary yield of b.u.t.ter and milk had been reported in the _Ohio Farmer_, a short time previous to his visit. This animal was found by him in rather poor condition; the causes of which he could only trace to the existence of these worms, comfortably located, as they were, beneath the animal's hide, and forming small tumors all along the spinal column, each being surrounded by a considerable quant.i.ty of pus. A number of these were removed by means of a curved bistoury and a pair of forceps, since which time--as he has been informed--the animal has rapidly improved, regaining her former good condition.

Some may urge that this is an isolated case; but an examination of cattle for themselves, will convince them to the contrary. It may be added, that two other cows, belonging to the same gentleman, were also examined at the same time,--one of them being in good condition, and the other, out of condition. From the back of the latter several of these insects were removed, since which time she also has much improved. The former was entirely free from them. These cows were all kept in the same pasture, received the same care, and were fed on the same food, and at the same time; and as the removal of these larvae has been productive of such beneficial results, have we not a right to infer that these insects are injurious?

If we go further and examine, in the spring of the year, all cattle which are subject to them, instead of finding them in the fine condition which one would naturally expect,--considering the abundance of fresh young gra.s.s whose vigorous life they may incorporate into their own,--they are out of condition, and out of spirits, with a laggard eye, a rough coat, and, in some cases, a staggering gait, as though their strength had failed in consequence.

How shall such attacks be prevented? During the months of August and September this gad-fly is busily engaged in depositing its eggs. Some are of the opinion that they are placed on the hairs of the animal; others, that the skin is perforated, and the egg deposited in the opening, which would account for the apparent pain manifested by cattle at and after the time of such deposit. Be this as it may, it is certain that the maggot works its way into the muscular fibre of the back, and depends upon the animal's blood for the nourishment which it receives.

The author has been informed, by persons in whom he ought to have confidence, that the _free use of the card_, during the above-named months, is a specific protection against the attacks of the _oestrus bovis_. He repeats this information here, not without diffidence; since so large a majority of stock-owners evince, by their lack of familiarity with the practical use of this convenient and portable instrument, an utter disbelief in its reliability and value.

WORMS.

Cattle are not so subject to worms proper as are the other domestic animals; nor, when these parasites do exist, is any injurious effect apparent, except it be in the case of young calves of a weakly const.i.tution. Worms are most commonly located in the small intestines, and cause there considerable irritation, and consequently, general emaciation, or at least a tendency to it.

The cause, however, is easily removed by administering doses of sulphate of iron, one-half drachm each, in mola.s.ses once or twice a day.

WORMS IN THE BRONCHIAL TUBES.

Inflammation of the bronchial tubes is often caused by worms of the _strongylus_ species. Upon examination after death, the bronchial pa.s.sages are completely blocked-up by these hangers-on.