This stage is soon followed by nausea; the breathing and the heart’s action become rapid, vomiting efforts are made, and finally milk, in the form of firm or partially softened curds, depending on the time which has elapsed since the last feed was taken, are vomited. The quantity ejected varies. Pressure over the right side of the abdomen produces pain, and tympanites of the abomasum may sometimes be detected on percussion.
The sensitiveness and gaseous inflation are confined to the middle and lower zone of the hypochondrium. Soon after vomiting the animal begins to improve. The patient seems brighter, relief is very marked, and in some cases proves permanent; but more frequently a certain degree of depression persists, the mouth emits a sourish odour, and for a time the appetite remains poor. This temporary irritation of the abomasum has a tendency to become permanent; or even to extend to the intestine, in which the conditions appear more favourable to the development of microorganisms than do those in the stomach. Indigestion then becomes complicated with diarrhœic enteritis.
The diagnosis presents no difficulty.
The prognosis is not serious, provided that the young animals are carefully attended to; but such complications as diarrhœic enteritis may become very grave if neglected.
The treatment. To prevent recurrences:
(1) The periods of feeding should be regulated;
(2) The cows should not be worked, or should be worked as little as possible;
(3) Mixed milk, or milk which has already undergone lactic or other fermentation, should be avoided.
If the calves must be reared by hand, the mixed milk should at least be boiled or relatively pasteurised by heating to 70° or 80° C., and the buckets used for feeding should be kept scrupulously clean. These precautions become absolutely necessary when diarrhœa exists amongst the calves. Curative treatment consists in placing the animals on low diet for two or three days after the attack of indigestion, or in giving them boiled milk diluted with from one-half to two-thirds of boiled water.
The addition of a mild saline purgative like sulphate of soda, in doses of one-half to three-quarters of an ounce, usually ensures a cure. Infusions of lime-tree flowers, peppermint, camomile, etc., may advantageously be used to replace boiled water in diluting the first foods.