Special Report on Diseases of Cattle Part 43

PUSTULES (IMPETIGO).

Impetigo is an inflammatory disease of the skin, characterized by the formation of distinct pustules, about the size of a pea or a bean, without itching. The pustules develop from the papular layer of the skin, and contain a yellowish-white pus. After reaching maturity they remain stationary for a few days, then they disappear by absorption and dry up into crusts, which later drop off, leaving upon the skin a red spot that soon disappears. Occasionally the crusts remain firmly adherent for a long time, or they may be raised and loosened by the formation of matter underneath. The dry crusts usually have a brown or black appearance.

_Causes._--Impetigo affects sucking calves, in which the disease appears upon the lips, nostrils, and face. It is attributed to some irritant substance contained in the mother's milk. Impetigo is also witnessed among grazing animals, regardless of age, and it especially attacks animals with white hair and skin. The mouth, face, and limbs become covered with pustules, which may rupture in a few hours, followed by rapid and successive incrustations; the scabs frequently coalesce, covering a large surface; pus may form under them, and thus the whole thickness of the skin become involved in the morbid process. This form of the disease is attributed to the local irritant properties of such plants in the pasture as St. John's wort (_Hyperic.u.m perforatum_), smartweed (_Polygonum hydropiper_), vetches, honeydew, etc. Buckwheat, at the time the seeds become ripe, is said to have caused it; also bedding with buckwheat straw.

_Treatment._--Sucking calves should be removed from the mother, and a purgative given to the latter to divert the poisonous substance secreted with the milk. When the more formidable disease among grazing cattle appears, the pasturage should be changed and the affected parts of the animal thoroughly anointed once a day with sweet oil containing 2 drams of carbolic acid to the pint. This should be continued until the crusts soften and begin to drop off, then the parts may be cleansed thoroughly with warm water and soap. Subsequently the white precipitate ointment or carbolized cosmoline should be applied daily until the parts are healed.

PEMPHIGUS (WATER BLISTERS).

This is an inflammatory disease of the skin, characterized by successive formations of rounded, irregularly shaped water blisters, varying in size from a pea to a hen's egg.

_Causes._--Obscure.

_Symptoms._--The formation of a blister is preceded by a congestion or swelling of the skin. Yellowish-colored water collects beneath the cuticle, which raises the latter from its bed in the form of a blister. The blisters appear in a succession of crops; as soon as one crop disappears another forms. They usually occur in cl.u.s.ters, each one being distinct, or they may coalesce. Each crop usually runs its course in a week. The disease is attended with itching or burning sensations which cause the animal to rub, thereby frequently producing excoriations and formation of crust on the affected region.

_Treatment._--Give a tablespoonful of the following-described mixture in feed twice a day: Saltpeter, cream of tartar, and sulphur, equal parts by weight. The blisters should be opened as soon as formed, to allow the escape of the serum, followed by a wash composed of chlorid of zinc, 1 dram to 15 ounces of water. When there is any formation of crusts, carbolized cosmoline should be applied.

FURUNCULUS (BOILS).

This is an acute affection of the skin, usually involving its whole thickness, characterized by the formation of one or more abscesses, originating generally in a sebaceous gland, sweat gland, or hair follicle.

They usually terminate by absorption, or by the formation of a central core, which sloughs out, leaving a deep, round cavity that soon heals.

_Causes._--Impoverished state of blood, the result of kidney diseases or of local friction or contusions, with the entrance of pus cocci through the damaged skin or through a hair follicle or a sebaceous gland.

_Symptoms._--Boils in cattle usually appear singly, not in cl.u.s.ters; they may attain the size of a hen's egg. The abscess begins as a small round nodule, painful on pressure, gradually increases in size until death of the central portion takes place, then the surface of the skin gives way to internal pressure and the core is released and expelled. Const.i.tutional symptoms are generally absent, unless the boils occur in considerable numbers, or by their size involve a great deal of tissue.

_Treatment._--Poulticing to ripen the abscess. If this can not be done, apply camphorated oil two or three times a day until the core is formed. As soon as the central or most prominent part becomes soft, the abscess should be opened to release the core. Then use carbolized cosmoline once a day until the healing is completed. If the animal is in poor condition, give tonics--copperas, gentian, ginger, and sulphur, equal parts by weight, 1 tablespoonful twice a day. If the animal manifests a feverish condition of the system, give half an ounce of saltpeter twice a day, continuing it several days or a week.

FAULTY SECRETIONS AND ABNORMAL GROWTHS OF THE SKIN.

PITYRIASIS (SEBORRHEA, DANDRUFF, OR SCURF).

This is a condition characterized by an excessive secretion of sebaceous matter, forming upon the skin in small crusts or scales.

_Causes._--It is ascribable to a functional derangement of the sebaceous glands, usually accompanied with dryness and loss of pliancy of the skin.

The animal is hidebound, as it is commonly termed, thin in flesh, inclined to rub, and very frequently lousy. The condition is observed most often toward the spring of the year. Animals that are continually housed, and the skins of which receive no cleaning, generally present a coat filled with fine scales, composed of epithelium from the epidermis and dried sebaceous matter. This, however, is a physiological condition and compatible with perfect health.

_Symptoms._--Pityriasis may affect the greater portion of the body, though usually only certain parts are affected--the ears, neck, rump, etc. The skin becomes scurfy, the hairy coat filled with branlike gray or whitish scales.

_Treatment._--Nutritious feed, such as oil-cake meal, bran, ground oats, and clean hay. In the spring the disease generally disappears after the animal is turned out to pasture. When lice are present they should be destroyed.

ELEPHANTIASIS (SCLERODERMA).

This condition consists in a chronic thickening of the skin, which may affect one or more limbs or involve the whole integument. It is characterized by recurrent attacks of swelling of the skin and subcutaneous areolar tissue. After each attack the affected parts remain infiltrated to a larger extent than before, until finally the skin may attain a thickness of an inch, becoming wrinkled and fissured. In cattle this disease is confined to hot climates. The predisposing cause is unknown.

EDEMA (ANASARCA OF THE SKIN).

This is a dropsical condition of the skin and subcutaneous areolar tissue, characterized by pitting under pressure, the fingers leaving a dent which remains a short time.

_Causes._--Edema generally results from a weakened state of the system arising from previous disease. It may also be dependent upon a functional derangement of the kidneys, upon weak circulation, or obstruction to the flow of blood through the lungs. In debilitated animals and in some animals highly infested with parasites there is swelling of the dewlap or of the fold of the skin between the jaws.

_Symptoms._--Painless swelling of a limb, udder, lower surface of abdomen, or lower jaw becomes apparent. This may increase in dimensions for several days or may attain its maximum in less than 24 hours. Unless complicated with some acute disease of a specific character, there is not much, if any, const.i.tutional disturbance. The deep layer of the skin is infiltrated with serum, which gives it the characteristic condition of pitting under pressure.

_Treatment._--When the cause can be ascertained and removed we may expect to see the edema disappear. When no direct specific cause can be discovered and the animal is debilitated, give general tonic. If, on the contrary, it is in good flesh, give a purgative, followed by half an ounce of acetate of pota.s.sium twice a day. External applications are useless.

Edema may be distinguished from erysipelas or anthrax by the absence of pain and fever.

DERMOID AND SEBACEOUS CYSTS (WENS).

A dermoid cyst is formed by an involution of the skin with a growth of hair on the inner wall of the sac. It may become embedded deeply in the subcutaneous tissues or may just penetrate the thickness of the skin, where it is movable and painless. They are generally found within the ear or at its base, although they may form on any part of the body. Usually they have a small opening, from which a thick, cheesy matter can be squeezed out. The rational treatment is to dissect them out.

Sebaceous cysts appear not unlike the former. They are formed by a dilatation of the hair follicle and sebaceous duct within the skin, and contain a gray or yellowish sebaceous ma.s.s. The tumor may attain the size of a cherry stone or a walnut. Generally they are round, movable, and painless, soft or doughy in consistency, and covered with skin and hair.

They develop slowly. The best treatment is to dissect out the sac with contents entire.

VERRUCA (WARTS).

Cattle are affected with two varieties of warts. One, the verruca vulgaris, is composed of a cl.u.s.ter of enlarged papillae, covered with a thickened epidermis, the number of papillae determining the breadth and their length its height. They are generally circular in figure, slightly roughened on the surface, and spring from the skin by a broad base. Occasionally large numbers of very thin, long, pedunculated warts grow from the skin of the ear, lips, about the eyes, and v.u.l.v.a. Another variety, the verruca ac.u.minata, sometimes erroneously denominated epithelial cancers, are irregularly shaped elevations, tufted or club shaped, occasionally existing as thick, short, fleshy excrescences, giving the growth the appearance of granulation tissue. Their color is red or purplish, and oftentimes by friction they become raw and bleeding, emitting then a very offensive odor.

They usually grow in cl.u.s.ters and their development is rapid.

_Causes._--An abnormal nutrition of the skin, determined by increased energy of growth operating upon a healthy skin; at other times, upon a weak or impoverished skin.

_Treatment._--When they are small and pedunculated, they may be snipped off with shears and the stump touched with nitrate of silver. When they are broad and flattened, they may be dissected out and the wound cauterized if necessary. If they are large and very vascular, they may be ligated, one by one, by taking a strong cord and tying it as firmly around the base as possible. They will then shrivel, die, and drop off. If there is a tendency to grow again, apply a red-hot iron or nitric acid with a gla.s.s rod. Very often warts quickly disappear if they are kept soft by daily applications of sweet or olive oil.

KELIS.

Kelis is an irregularly shaped flat tumor of the skin, resulting from hypertrophy--increased growth of the fibrous tissue of the corium, producing absorption of the papillary layer.

_Causes._--It may arise spontaneously or follow a scar after an injury.

_Symptoms._--Kelis generally appears below the knee or hock, and may occur singly or in numbers. There are no const.i.tutional symptoms. Its growth is very slow and seldom causes any inconvenience. It appears as a flattened, irregular, or spreading growth within the substance of the skin, is hard to the touch, and is especially characterized by divergent branches or roots, resembling the claws of a crab; hence the name. Occasionally some part of it may soften and result in an abscess. It may grow several inches in length and encircle the whole limb.

_Treatment._--So long as it causes the animal no inconvenience it is best not to meddle with it; when it does the animal ought to be fattened for beef, the meat being perfectly harmless to the consumer.

PARASITIC DISEASES OF THE SKIN.

RINGWORM (TINEA TONSURANS AND TINEA FAVOSA).

Ringworm is an affection of the skin, caused by a vegetable parasite.

The form known as tinea tonsurans is produced by the presence of a minute or microscopic fungus--the _Trichophyton tonsurans_, which affects the hair and the epidermic layer of the skin, and is highly contagious, being readily transmitted from one animal to another. This fungus consists of spores and filaments. The spores, being the most numerous, are round and seldom vary much in size. They are very abundant in the hair follicle. The filaments are articulated, waving, and contain granules. This disease is productive of changes in the root and shaft of the hair, rendering it brittle and easily broken off.