Symptoms.—The beast is heavy, dejected, restless, scrapes the ground with the fore feet, strikes the belly with the hind feet, grinds the teeth, looks around at its flanks and belly, groans, lows; the look is sad, the eyes red; the ears, horns and feet cold; the muzzle dry; the abdomen somewhat swollen and extremely tender; there is diarrhea and vomiting, and cessation or deterioration of milk, which, when drawn, is thin, yellowish, stringy, and irritates the udder; sometimes it is reddish and offensive. Spasms and colic are occasionally so intense as to make the animal furious. M. Gelle has observed that the most constant symptoms of gastritis are: loss of appetite, arrest of rumination, and abnormal condition of the tongue. If the inflammation be intense, the tongue appears to be contracted, straighter and more rounded than usual, red at the point and along the edges, and the papillæ are elevated and injected. In some intense cases, when several of the viscera are involved, the tongue is yellow or green.
Treatment.—A.A., is the first and principal remedy, and may be given, at first, a dose every half hour or hour. As the animal improves, the intervals between the doses may be prolonged, and only at the conclusion, when the animal has become free from the more active symptoms, or they have subsided, the J.K., may be given for the remaining debility of the digestive organs.
No solid food should be given until convalescence sets in. Small quantities of fluids may be given in the form of oatmeal or flour gruel, or water.
Enteritis—Inflammation of the Bowels
Definition.—Inflammation of the intestines, throughout a greater or less extent of their course, and involving all the coats of the intestines or only the mucous lining.
It generally attacks cattle of middle age and robust health; sometimes appears as an epidemic in certain districts, and seems to be most prevalent in hot summers.
Causes.—Sudden exposure to cold, or drinking cold water when heated; eating acrid or unwholesome plants; mildewed food; too stimulating diet; drinking impure water; sudden change from poor to rich food; colds, injuries inflicted on the abdomen, the presence of a large number of worms in the intestines; badly managed colic, continuing more than twenty hours, and ending in enteritis; animals inflicted with colic may so injure themselves by falling or rolling over that this complaint may be the consequence.
Symptoms.—Shivering, dullness, extreme restlessness; frequent lying down and rising again, with signs of pain in the bowels; hard, small and rapid pulse; quickened breathing; hot mouth and violent thirst; red and protruding eyes; pawing and kicking; frequent efforts to urinate, but no water, or only a few drops, are discharged; the pain, which is most intense and constant, is increased by pressure and moving about. The hair is rough, the loins tender, the abdomen swollen on the left side, and incapable of bearing pressure; the bowels are obstinately confined; the fæces hard and glazed with slime; but occasionally liquid dung is forced with dreadful agony through the hardened mass obstructing the lower bowel, and all previous symptoms become aggravated. If the latter disease lasts a few days, and there is a sudden cessation of pain, this is a sign that gangrene (mortification) has set in; the feet and ears become quite cold, and after a while the animal falls heavily, struggles convulsively for a brief period, and dies.
Diagnosis.—As the symptoms of this violent complaint resemble, in many respects, those of colic, it may be well to point out the distinctions between the one and the other.
| DIFFERENCES BETWEEN COLIC AND ENTERITIS | |
|---|---|
| COLIC | ENTERITIS |
| The attack is sudden. | The disorder generally comes on gradually. |
| The pain is intermittent. | The pain is incessant and increases. |
| The pain is relieved by friction and motion. | The pain is aggravated by friction and movement. |
| Debility is not a characteristic till near the end of the disorder. | Debility is very characteristic. |