For Garget, or Caked Bag.
Keep the bag thoroughly drained of milk, for which purpose the lamb is the most efficient. If it is lost, another may be temporarily substituted. Purge freely with Epsom salts, and wash the udder repeatedly with very warm water. If matter forms, it should be opened with the lancet.
Bleeding.
"Nothing tends so much to the recovery of an animal from a disease in which bleeding is required, as the rapid flow of the blood from a large orifice. Little impression can be made on an acute disease by the slow removal of even a large quantity of blood, as the organs have time to accommodate themselves to the loss, which might, for any good it will do, as well be dispensed with. Either bleed rapidly, or not at all. The nearer the commencement of an ailment, in which you em
ploy bleeding, the operation is resorted to, the greater the chance of its doing good.
Bleeding by nicking the under surface of the tail, does very well, where no great deal of blood is required, but it is not to be thought of if the veins of the face or neck can possibly be opened. These are to be taken in preference to a vein on the leg, as they are much more readily got at. The facial vein commences by small branches on the side of the face, and runs downwards and backwards to the base of the jaw, where it may be felt within two inches of the angle, or opposite the middle grinding tooth. It is here that the orifice must be made: the thumb of the left hand being held against the vein, so as to prevent the flow of blood towards the heart, will make it rise.
Some prefer opening the jugular vein, which commences behind the eye and runs down the side of the neck. This vessel is, however, more difficult to open than the former, being better covered with wool, and not so easily exposed or made to swell. Stringing is the mode commonly resorted to for this end; that is to say, a cord is drawn tightly round the neck close to the shoulder, so as to stop the circulation through the vein, and render it perceptible to the finger.
A lancet is the instrument generally used in bleeding, though a well-pointed penknife will do at a pinch. The opening must always be made obliquely; but before attempting this, the animal must be secured, by placing it between the operator's legs, with its croup against a wall. The selected vein is then fixed by the fingers of the operator's left hand, so as to prevent its rolling or slipping before the lancet. Having fairly entered the vein, the point of the instrument must be elevated at the same time that it is pushed a little forward, by which motion it will be lifted from or cut its way out of the vein.
A prescribed quantity of blood should never be drawn, for the simple reason that this can never be precisely stated. If the symptoms are urgent, as in all likelihood they will be, your best plan is not to stop the flow of blood till the animal fall or is about to fall. When this occurs, run a pin through the edges of the orifice, and finish by twisting round it a lock of wool."—(Blacklock.)