Common Diseases of Farm Animals

by Robert Alexander Craig

The treatment is both preventive and medicinal. This form of acute indigestion can be largely prevented by practising the following preventive measures: All changes in the feed should be made gradually, especially if the ration fed is heavy, or the new ration consists largely of green, succulent feed. Cattle pasturing on clover should be kept under close observation. It is not advisable to pasture cattle on rank growths of clover that are wet with dew or a light rain. Bloating can be quickly relieved by puncturing the wall of the paunch with the trocar and cannula. The operation is quite simple and is not followed by bad results. The instrument is plunged through the walls of the abdomen and rumen in the most prominent portion of the flank, midway between the border of the last rib and the point of the haunch (Fig. 13). The trocar is then withdrawn from the cannula. After the gas has escaped through the cannula, the trocar is replaced and the instrument withdrawn. After using the trocar and cannula, the instrument should be cleaned by placing it in boiling hot water. It is advisable to wash the skin at the seat of the operation with a disinfectant before operating. In chronic tympanitis, it is sometimes advisable to leave the cannula in position by tying a tape to the flange, passing it around the body and tying.

As a cathartic for cattle, we may give one quart of linseed and from two to four ounces of turpentine, or one to two pounds of Epsom or Glauber's salts, dissolved in plenty of water. Sheep may be given about one-fourth the dose recommended for cattle.

[Illustration: FIG. 13.—The X indicates the point where the wall of flank and rumen are punctured with trocar and cannula in "bloat.">[

OVERLOADING THE RUMEN.—This form of indigestion occurs when ruminants have access to feeds that they are not accustomed to. As a result, they eat greedily and the mass of feed in the rumen becomes so heavy that the walls of the organ can not move it about, and digestion is interfered with. This is especially true of succulent feeds. A diseased condition of the animal predisposes it to this disorder. If after eating an excessive amount of dry, innutritions fodder, the animal drinks freely of cold water, acute symptoms of overloading are manifested.

The general symptoms occurring in overloading resembles those seen in bloating. The symptoms may be mild and extend over a period of several days, or it may take on a highly acute form, terminating fatally within a few hours. The acuteness of the attack depends on the character and quantity of feed eaten. If a large quantity of green feed is eaten, fermentation occurs and the animal may die within a few hours. The swelling on the left side has a doughy feel. It is not as elastic and resonant as in bloat, even when complicated by some gas formation. The animal may stop ruminating, refuse to eat, and act dull. In the more severe cases the respirations are hurried and labored, the pulse small and quick and the expression of the face indicates pain. Colicky pains sometimes occur. Death may occur from shock or asphyxia.

The treatment is both preventive and curative. This disease can be prevented by using the necessary precautions to prevent animals from overeating. If gas forms, the trocar and cannula should be used. A drench of from one to two pounds of Epsom or Glauber's salts should be given. Sheep may be given from four to six ounces of Epsom or Glauber's salts. We should endeavor to stimulate the movement of the paunch by pressure on the flank with the hand, throwing cold water on the wall of the abdomen and by hypodermic injections of strychnine. Rumenotomy should be performed when necessary. This operation consists in opening the walls of the abdomen and rumen, and removing a part of the contents of the rumen. This is not a dangerous operation when properly performed, and should not be postponed until the animal is too weak to make a recovery.

IMPACTION OF THE OMASUM.—This disease may occur as a complication of other forms of acute indigestion and diseases accompanied by an abnormal body temperature. Feeds that are dry and innutritions commonly cause it. Other causes are an excessive quantity of feed, sudden changes in the diet and drinking an insufficient quantity of water.

As in other diseases of the stomach, the appetite is diminished, rumination ceases or occurs at irregular intervals, and the animal is more or less feverish. Bloating and constipation may occur. The animal may lose flesh, is weak, walks stiffly and grunts as though in pain when it moves about in the stall and at each respiration. In the acute form, marked symptoms are sometimes manifested. At first the animal acts drowsy; later violent nervous symptoms may develop.

The course of this disease varies from a few days to several weeks. Death frequently occurs. Frequently a diarrhoea accompanies recovery, a portion of the faeces appearing black with polished surfaces, as though they had been baked.

The preventive treatment consists in practising the necessary precautions against the development of this disease by avoiding sudden changes in the feed, the feeding of dry, innutritions feeds in too large amounts, allowing animals plenty of water and providing them with salt. The best purgative to give is Glauber's or Epsom salts in from one- to two-pound doses, dissolved in at least one gallon of water. This physic may be repeated in from twelve to eighteen hours if necessary. Two drachms of tincture of nux vomica and one ounce of alcohol may be given in a drench three times daily. Hypodermic injections of strychnine, eserine, or pilocarpine are useful in the treatment of this disease. When recovery begins, the animal should be allowed moderate exercise and be fed food of a laxative nature.