WOUNDS AND INJURIES OF THE GULLET.
Sometimes the walls of the gullet may be more or less lacerated or abraded by the rash and too forcible use of the probang, and the animal consequently swallows with pain and difficulty. In such cases dry feed must be withheld for five or six days, so as to allow the injured parts to heal, and the diet must be limited to linseed tea, hay tea, and thin oatmeal gruel and molasses. The same kind of diet must be fed after the operation of cutting into the gullet has been performed.
Sometimes the gullet is ruptured and lacerated to such an extent that treatment of any kind is hopeless. This has been known to occur when the handle of a pitchfork or buggy whip has been pushed down a cow's throat to remove an obstruction. When such treatment has been applied it is best to slaughter the animal without delay, as the flesh may be utilized so long as there is no fever or general disease, and remedial treatment would be hopeless. In this connection it may be mentioned that whatever substitute may be used for a probang, which sometimes is not at hand, it should be flexible and should possess a smooth surface. A piece of new rope, with the end closely wrapped and waxed and then oiled, or a piece of thin garden hose, or a well-wrapped twisted wire may be used in emergencies.
DISEASES OF THE STOMACHS.
ACUTE TYMPANITES (HOVEN, OR BLOATING).
Tympanites is a distention of the rumen or paunch with gases of fermentation, and is manifested outwardly by swelling in the region of the left flank.
Causes.—Tympanites may be caused by any kind of feed which produces indigestion. When cattle are first turned into young clover they eat so greedily of it that tympanites frequently results. Turnips, potatoes, cabbage, or the discarded pulp from sugar-beet factories may also cause it. Middlings and corn meal also frequently give rise to it.
Care is necessary in turning animals into fields of clover or stubble fields in which there is a strong growth of volunteer grain. It is always better to keep them from such pasturage while it is wet with dew, and they should be taken out when they have eaten a moderate quantity. When cattle are fed upon pulp from sugar beets, germinated malt, etc., they should be fed in moderate amounts until they have become accustomed to it, as any of these feeds may give rise to severe bloating.
An excessive quantity of any of the before-mentioned feeds may bring on this disorder, or it may not be caused by excess, but to eating too hastily. Sometimes the quality of the feed is at fault. Grass or clover when wet by dew or rain frequently disorders digestion and brings on tympanites; frozen roots or pastures covered with hoar frost should also be regarded as dangerous. When feed has been eaten too hastily, or when it is cold and wet, the digestive process is imperfectly performed, and the feed contained in the paunch ferments, during which process large quantities of gas are formed. The same result may follow when a cow is choked, as the obstruction in the gullet prevents the eructation or passing up of gas from the stomach, so that the gas continues to accumulate until tympanites results.
Symptoms.—The swelling of the left flank is very characteristic, as in well-marked cases the flank at its upper part rises above the level of the backbone, and when struck with the tips of the fingers emits a drum-like sound. The animal has an anxious expression, moves uneasily, and is evidently distressed. If relief is not obtained in time, it breathes with difficulty, reels in walking or in standing, and in a short time falls and dies from suffocation. The distention of the stomach may become so great as to prevent the animal from breathing, and in some instances the case may be complicated by rupture of the stomach.