Pneumonia, or Inflammation of the Lungs
This is an inflammation of the substance of the lungs, or lights, and is rarely unaccompanied with pleurisy or bronchitis. It is usually brought on by exposure to cold or sudden changes of temperature, or from the extension of a common cold.
The Symptoms are as follows: The cow becomes dull, disinclined to move, and hangs her head; the muzzle is dry; the mouth hot; the cough frequent and dry; the coat rough and staring; the horns, ears and feet are hot at one time and cold at another; the breathing is quickened and attended with heaving of the flanks; the pulse is full and quick; appetite is gone and chewing of the cud suspended. The thirst is great, bowels bound and dung dark-colored; the spine is tender when pressed upon; the head projected forward and eyes staring; tears flow down the face; the teeth are ground; a discharge flows from the nose, at first clear and watery, afterwards red and containing some blood; the breathing becomes quicker, more difficult, and labored as the disease advances; the cough comes on in fits; the nostrils are widened, and play to their utmost limit; the body is covered with sweat; the pulse becomes weaker and increased in frequency, and these symptoms increase in violence and become gradually worse until the animal dies.
Treatment.—Give, the first twelve or twenty-four hours, the A.A., a dose of twenty drops, every two hours.
After the fever and heat have been thus in a measure subdued, alternate the E.E. with the A.A., at intervals of three hours, giving as before, twenty drops at a dose.
Continue this treatment steadily, except that, unless the case is very critical and urgent, the medicine need not to be kept up during the night, but a dose of the E.E. may be given, late in the night, and be permitted to act undisturbed until the morning; then go on as before.
For food and stabling, consult the article on Pleurisy, page [149].
Bronchitis from Worms
Causes.—Calves and yearlings are particularly liable to the production of parasite worms, of the genus Filaria, in the bronchial tubes, which are sometimes choked up with them. They are from one to three inches long, of a silvery color, and generally invade cattle fed in low, marshy or woody pasture, where there is little water.
Symptoms.—Slight catarrh; cough, at first dry and husky, then short and paroxysmal; accelerated breathing, with occasional grunting, and distress in the chest; quick pulse (100); thin nasal discharge; dullness; wasting. If these be not relieved, the animal becomes restless, manifests anxiety, breathes with rapidity, difficulty and grunting; the ears hang, the nostrils widen, the eyes are hollow; dyspnœa, debility, and atrophy end in death. Sometimes there is tolerable health, while the flesh all wastes away, and nothing is left but skin and bones. A post-mortem examination shows inflammation and thickening of the bronchia and lungs, and accumulation of worms, rolled together with mucous in small balls.