Special Report on Diseases of Cattle Part 3

HAIR CONCRETIONS.

Hair concretions, or hair b.a.l.l.s, result from the habit which some cattle have of licking themselves or other animals. As a result the hairs which are swallowed are carried around by the contractions of the stomach and gradually a.s.sume the form of a small pellet or ball. This increases in size as fresh quant.i.ties of hair are introduced into the stomach and adhere to the surface of the ball. These b.a.l.l.s are found most frequently in the reticulum or second stomach (Pl. II, B), though sometimes in the rumen. In calves hair b.a.l.l.s are generally found in the fourth stomach. There are no certain symptoms by which we can determine the presence of hair b.a.l.l.s in the stomach, and therefore no treatment can be recommended for such cases.

In making post-mortem examinations of cattle we have sometimes found the walls of the reticulum transfixed with nails or pieces of wire, and yet the animal had not shown any symptoms of indigestion, but had died from maladies not involving the second stomach.

INDIGESTION (DYSPEPSIA, OR GASTROINTESTINAL CATARRH).

Tympanites, already described, is a form of indigestion in which the chief symptom and most threatening condition is the collection of gas in the paunch. This symptom does not always accompany indigestion, so it is well here to consider other forms under a separate head. If indigestion is long continued, the irritant abnormal products developed cause catarrh of the stomach and intestines--gastrointestinal catarrh. On the other hand, however, irritant substances ingested may cause gastrointestinal catarrh, which, in turn, will cause indigestion; hence, it results that these several conditions are usually found existing together.

_Causes._--Irritant feed, damaged feed, overloading of the stomach, or sudden changes of diet may cause this disease. Want of exercise predisposes to it, or feed which is coa.r.s.e and indigestible may after a time produce it. Feed which possesses astringent properties and tends to check secretion may also act as an exciting cause. Feed in excessive quant.i.ty may lead to disorder of digestion and to this disease. It is very likely to appear toward the end of protracted seasons of drought; therefore a deficiency of water must be regarded as one of the conditions which favor its development.

_Symptoms._--Diminished appet.i.te, rumination irregular, tongue coated, mouth slimy, dung pa.s.sed apparently not well digested and smelling bad, dullness, and fullness of the flanks. The disease may in some cases a.s.sume a chronic character, and in addition to the foregoing symptoms slight bloating or tympanites of the left flank may be observed; the animal breathes with effort and each respiration may be accompanied with a grunt, the ears and horns are alternately hot and cold, rumination ceases, the usual rumbling sound in the stomach is not audible, the pa.s.sage of dung is almost entirely suspended, and the animal pa.s.ses only a little mucus occasionally. Sometimes there is alternating constipation and diarrhea.

There is low fever in many cases.

The disease continues a few days or a week in the mild cases, while the severe cases may last several weeks. In the latter form the emaciation and loss of strength may be very great. There is no appet.i.te, no rumination, nor peristalsis. The mouth is hot and sticky, the eyes have receded in their sockets, and milk secretion has ceased. In such cases the outlook for recovery is unfavorable. The patient falls away in flesh and becomes weaker, as is shown by the fact that one frequently finds it lying down.

On examining animals which have died of this disease it is found that the lining membrane of the fourth stomach and the intestines, particularly the small intestine, is red, swollen, streaked with deeper red or bluish lines, or spotted. The lining of the first three stomachs is more or less softened, and may easily be peeled off. The third stomach (psalter) contains dry feed in hard ma.s.ses closely adherent to its walls.

In some cases the brain appears to become disordered, probably from the pain and weakness and from the absorption of toxins generated in the digestive ca.n.a.l. In such cases there is weakness and an unsteady gait, the animal does not appear to take notice of and will consequently run against obstacles; after a time it falls and gives up to violent and disordered movements. This delirious condition is succeeded by coma or stupor, and death ensues.

_Treatment._--Small quant.i.ties of roots, sweet silage, or selected gra.s.s or hay should be offered several times daily. Very little feed should be allowed. Aromatic and demulcent drafts may be given to produce a soothing effect on the mucous lining of the stomachs and to promote digestion. Two ounces of camomile flowers should be boiled for 20 minutes in a quart of water and the infusion on cooling should be given to the affected animal.

This may be repeated three or four times a day. When constipation is present the following purgative may be administered: One pound of Glauber's salt dissolved in a quart of linseed tea and a pint of mola.s.ses. After this purgative has acted, if there is a lack of appet.i.te and the animal does not ruminate regularly, the powder mentioned in remarks on the treatment of chronic tympanites may be given according to directions. The diet must be rather laxative and of an easily digestible character after an attack of this form of indigestion. Feed should be given in moderate quant.i.ties, as excess by overtaxing the digestive functions may bring on a relapse.

Ice-cold water should be avoided.

INDIGESTION FROM DRINKING COLD WATER (COLIC).

This disorder is produced by drinking copiously of cold water, which arrests digestion and produces cramp of the fourth stomach, probably of the other stomachs, and also of the bowels.

_Causes._---It is not customary for the ox to drink much water at once. In fact, he usually drinks slowly and as if he were merely tasting the water, letting some fall out at the corners of his mouth at every mouthful. It would therefore seem to be contrary to the habits of the ox to drink copiously; but we find that during hot weather, when he has been working and is consequently very thirsty, if he drinks a large quant.i.ty of cold water he may be immediately taken with a very severe colic. Cows which are fed largely on dry hay drink copiously, like the working ox, and become affected in precisely the same manner. In such cases they are seized with a chill or fit of trembling before the cramps come on.

_Symptoms._--There is some distension of the abdomen, but no acc.u.mulation of gas. As the distension and pain occur immediately after the animal has drunk the water, there can be no doubt as to the exciting cause.

_Treatment._--Walk the animal about for 10 minutes before administering medicine, and this allows time for a portion of the contents of the stomach to pa.s.s into the bowel, and renders it safer to give medicine. In many cases the walking exercise and the diarrhea bring about a spontaneous cure of this disorder, but as in some instances the cramps and pains of the stomachs persist, one may give 1 ounce of sulphuric ether and 1 ounce of tincture of opium, shaken up with a pint of warm water, and repeat the dose in half an hour if the animal is not relieved. In an emergency when the medicine is not to be had, a tablespoonful of powdered ginger may be administered in a pint of warm water.

INDIGESTION IN CALVES (GASTROINTESTINAL CATARRH, DIARRHEA, OR SCOUR).

Calves are subject to a form of diarrhea to which the foregoing designations have been applied.

_Causes._--Calves that suck their dams are not frequently affected with this disease, though it may be occasioned by their sucking at long intervals and thus overloading the stomach and bringing on indigestion, or from improper feeding of the dam on soft, watery, or damaged feeds.

Suckling the calf at irregular times may also cause it. Exposure to damp and cold is a potent predisposing cause. Calves separated from their dams and fed considerable quant.i.ties of cold milk at long intervals are liable to contract this form of indigestion. Calves fed on artificial feed, used as a subst.i.tute for milk, frequently contract it. Damaged feed, sour or rotten milk, milk from dirty cans, skim milk from a dirty creamery skim-milk vat, skim milk hauled warm, exposed to the sun and fed from unclean buckets may all cause this disease.

_Symptoms._--The calf is depressed; appet.i.te is poor; sometimes there is fever; the extremities are cold. The dung becomes gradually softer and lighter in color until it is cream colored and little thicker than milk. It has a most offensive odor and may contain clumps of curd. Later it contains mucus and gas bubbles. It sticks to the hair of the tail and b.u.t.tocks, causing the hair to drop off and the skin to become irritated. There may be pain on pa.s.sing dung and also abdominal or colicky pain. The calf stands about with the back arched and belly contracted. There may be tympanites.

Great weakness ensues in severe cases, and without prompt and successful treatment death soon follows.

_Treatment._--Remove the cause. Give appropriate feed of best quality in small quant.i.ties. Make sure that the cow furnishing the milk is healthy and is properly fed. Clean all milk vessels. Clean and disinfect the stalls.

For the diarrhea give two raw eggs or a cup of strong coffee. If the case is severe, give 1 ounce of castor oil with a teaspoonful of creolin and 20 grains of subnitrate of bis.m.u.th. Repeat the bis.m.u.th and creolin with flaxseed tea every four hours. Tannopin may be used in doses of 15 to 30 grains.

Calves artificially fed on whole or skim milk should receive only such milk as is sweet and has been handled in a sanitary manner. Milk should always be warmed to the temperature of the body before feeding. When calves artificially milk-fed develop diarrhea, the use of the following treatment has given excellent results in many cases: Immediately after milking, or the separation of the skim milk from the cream, formalin in the proportion of 1 to 4,000 should be added to the milk which is used for feeding; this may be closely approximated by adding four drops of formalin to each quart of milk. This medicated milk should be fed to the calf in the usual quant.i.ty. When the diarrhea is not controlled in three or four days by this treatment, the additional use of some of the agents recommended above may a.s.sist in a recovery.

INFECTIOUS DIARRHEA; WHITE SCOUR.

[See chapter on Diseases of young calves, p. 247.]

GASTROENTERITIS.

This consists of an inflammation of the walls of the stomachs and of the bowel.

Gastroenteritis, or inflammation of the walls of the stomachs and intestines, follows upon irritations more severe or longer continued than those that produce gastrointestinal catarrh.

_Causes._--Severe indigestion may be followed by gastroenteritis, or it may be caused by swallowing irritant poisons, such as a.r.s.enic or corrosive sublimate or irritant plants. Exposure to cold or inclement weather may produce the disease, especially in debilitated animals or animals fed improperly. It is a.s.serted that if cattle feed on vegetation infested with some kinds of caterpillars this disease may result.

_Symptoms._--Dullness; drooping of the ears; dryness of the muzzle; dry skin; staring coat; loins morbidly sensitive to pressure; fullness of the left flank, which is caused by the distention of the fourth stomach by gas.

The pulse is small, the gait is feeble and staggering; each step taken is accompanied with a grunt, and this symptom is especially marked if the animal walks in a downward direction. There is loss of appet.i.te, and rumination is suspended. The pa.s.sages at first are few in number, hard, and are sometimes coated with mucus or with blood. Later a severe diarrhea sets in, when the pa.s.sages contain mucus and blood and have an offensive odor.

There is evidence of colicky pain, and the abdomen is sensitive to pressure. Pain may be continuous. There is fever and acceleration of pulse rate and respirations. Mental depression and even insensibility occur before death. The disease is always severe and often fatal.

_Post-mortem appearances._--The mucous membrane of the fourth stomach has a well-marked red color and sometimes presents ulcerations. The wall is thickened and softened, and similar conditions are found in the walls of the intestines. The red discoloration extends in spots or large areas quite through the wall, showing on the outside.

_Treatment._--Very small quant.i.ties of carefully selected feed must be given and the appet.i.te must not be forced. Protect the animal well from cold and dampness. Internally, give linseed tea, boiled milk, boiled oatmeal gruel, or rice water. These protectives may carry the medicine.

Tannopin in doses of 30 to 60 grains is good. Subnitrate of bis.m.u.th in doses of 1 to 2 drams may be given. Pulverized opium may be used, if the diarrhea is severe, in 1 to 2 dram doses. If the bowel movements are not free, one may give from a pint to a quart of castor or raw linseed oil.

TRAUMATIC INFLAMMATION OF THE STOMACH.

This disease results from the presence of a foreign body. This condition is not rare in cattle, because these animals have the habit of swallowing their feed without careful chewing, and so nails, screws, hairpins, ends of wire, and other metal objects may be swallowed unconsciously. Such objects gravitate to the second stomach, where they may be caught in the folds of the lining mucous membrane, and in some instances the wall of this organ is perforated. From this accident, chronic indigestion results. The symptoms, more or less characteristic, are pain when getting up or lying down; grunting and pain upon sudden motion, especially downhill; coughing; pain on pressure over the second stomach, which lies immediately above the cartilaginous prolongation of the sternum. If the presence of such a foreign body is recognized, it may be removed by a difficult surgical operation, or, as is usually most economical, the animal may be killed for beef, if there is no fever.

DISEASES OF THE BOWELS.

DIARRHEA AND DYSENTERY.

[See also Gastrointestinal catarrh, p. 32.]

The word "dysentery," as it is commonly used in relation to the diseases of animals, signifies a severe form of diarrhea.

_Causes._--Diarrhea is a symptom of irritation of the intestines, resulting in increased secretion or increased muscular contractions, or both. The irritation is sometimes the result of chilling from exposure, improper feeding, irritant feeds, indigestion, organic diseases of the intestines, or parasites.

_Symptoms._--Pa.s.sages from the bowels are frequent, at first consisting of thin dung, but as the disease continues they become watery and offensive smelling, and may be even streaked with blood. At first the animal shows no const.i.tutional disturbance, but later it becomes weak and may exhibit evidence of abdominal pain by looking around to the side, drawing the feet together, lying down, or moving restlessly. Sometimes this malady is accompanied with fever, great depression, loss of strength, rapid loss of flesh, and it may terminate in death.

_Treatment._--When the disease depends on irritating properties of the feed which has been supplied to the animal, it is advisable to give a mild purgative, such as a pint of castor or linseed oil. When the secretions of the bowels are irritating, an ounce of carbonate of magnesia and half an ounce of tincture of opium should be shaken up in a quart of linseed tea and given to the animal three times a day until the pa.s.sages present a natural appearance. When there is debility, want of appet.i.te, no fever, but a continuance of the watery discharges from the bowels, then an astringent may be given. For such cases the following is serviceable: Tannic acid, 1 ounce; powdered gentian, 2 ounces; mix and divide into 12 powders, one powder to be given three times a day until the pa.s.sages present a natural appearance. Each powder may be mixed with a pint and a half of water.

Tannopin is a new remedy that is most useful in such cases. The dose is from 30 grains to 2 drams. Useful household remedies are raw eggs, strong coffee, parched rye flour, or decoction of oak bark. In all cases the food must be given sparingly, and it should be carefully selected to insure good quality. Complete rest in a box stall is desirable. When diarrhea is a symptom of a malady characterized by the presence of a blood poison, the treatment appropriate to such disease must be applied.

SIMPLE ENTERITIS.