The Farmer's Veterinarian: A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Farm Stock

by Charles William Burkett

MAKE A PHYSICAL EXAMINATION

The stockman should at least know the fundamental principles of health and of any departure from them that indicate disease. Hence a superficial examination of the animal, as a whole, is in line of diagnosing the disease. Note the general condition of the body. The thermometer will advise you rightly. Is there pain? If possible determine this point and locate the seat of it. Is the circulation natural? An examination of the pulse will tell you if the blood is racing rapidly or gliding slowly, and whether regular or rough. Is the respiration as it should be? Count the number a minute that you may know if the number is more or less, or is as it should be. On listening to the lungs, heart, and blood vessels, certain sounds are heard which change with disease—normal and heart murmurs. Whether or not an organ contains air can be determined by percussion, since solid organs, the lungs, for instance, in pneumonia, give a different sound from those containing air as they are normally. Air-containing organs—lungs and intestines—may thus be distinguished from the solid ones adjoining them. In this way their varying size in health and disease may be determined.

Your examination should go further and include the natural discharges—the dung, the urine, the nose moisture and the “look of the eye.” In cases of fever the urine is scanty and deeply colored. In Texas fever, for instance, the urine is dark red. In azoturia in horses, it varies from a light color to a deep brown or black. The nature of the dung should be observed, if watery or dry, soft or hard, scanty or profuse.

Taking the Pulse.

—Stand at the left side of the horse and run the finger along the lower jaw until you come to the point where the artery crosses the jaw on its lower edge. This will be found about two inches forward from its angle. Right here is the large muscle and at the front edge the pulsations may be caught. To get the pulse of the cow, stand at the left side, reach over the neck and take it from the right jaw.

In the horse the normal pulse beats are from 35 to 40 per minute and may go to 100 in disease. In the cow the pulsations run from 45 to 50 in health. The pulse relates its story very accurately and, with practice, can be constantly used in diagnosing the nature of the ailment. For instance, a soft pulse, one that is easily compressed by the finger, indicates bronchitis. A hard pulse, one not easily depressed by the finger, indicates acute inflammation. A hard pulse may be quick and bounding and forceful. An irregular pulse, one that beats fast for a time, then slowly, indicates a weakened heart condition. A slow, full pulse, one that comes up gradually to the finger touch, indicates some brain trouble.

FEELING THE PULSE

The heart beat, as it is called, may be felt by placing the finger over any of the superficial arteries. The submaxillary artery as it passes under the edge of the lower jaw close to the bone is a convenient vessel for the purpose.

Taking the Temperature.

—While the heat of the body may be surmised by touch and feeling this is not a reliable guide as to the temperature. A self-registering thermometer, inserted into the rectum, is the only reliable means for getting this desirable information. In a state of health the temperature of the horse ranges from 100° to 102.5°.

When the temperature rises, inflammation is indicated. A fall in temperature below normal denotes loss of strength, vitality, and death. If the temperature rises three or four degrees above normal, the case is serious, and a rise of five or six is very dangerous. Animals seldom survive when the rise reaches above 107° or 108°.

A good clinical thermometer should be in the possession of every stockman. It costs but little, and its aid in recognizing and treating disease is helpful, if not absolutely indispensable.

Taking the Respiration.

—In breathing two movements are observed—taking in and sending out the air. In health the respiration is usually constant, ranging from 10 to 14 in the horses, and from 15 to 20 in cattle. Breathing is faster in young animals; and exercise increases the number of respirations per minute.

Any disease of the respiratory organs will cause the breathing to be short and rapid and labored. If the number of respirations seem more than normal, some disturbance is indicated. If the pulse is faster at the same time, illness is at once indicated, and the trouble should be sought at once.