CHAPTER IX
Diagnosis and Treatment of Disease
Some diseases are not difficult to diagnose. Those resulting from wounds or knocks are easily located, and their treatment readily outlined. Others, however, are not so easy. Something is observed as wrong, the animal acts strangely, does not take to its food, is fretful, stands or walks unnatural—what is the matter? The stockman must ascertain the trouble, and the quicker the better.
A review of the past few days is desirable. Where has the animal been? What kind of food has it had? With what strange fellows has it associated? Has it been put to excessive work or exposed to unusual weather or conditions? What infectious diseases are prevalent in the community? These and other questions will occur; in some instances the answer will be at hand.
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.