622 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS OF CATTLE. 



By A. J. Murray, M. R. C. V. S. 



IT. S. DEPT. OF AGR'L BULLETIN. 



[Revised in 1904 by Leonard Pearson, B. S., V. M. D.] 

 ACUTE TYMPANITES (HOVEN, OR BLOATING). 



This disease is characterized by swelling of the left flank, and is 

 caused by the formation of gas in the rumen, or paunch. 



CoHses.— Tympanites may be caused by any kind of food which pro- 

 duces indigestion. When cattle are first turned into young clover they 

 eat so greedily of it that tympanites frequently results; turnips, pota- 

 toes, and cabbage may also cause it; middlings and corn meal also fre- 

 quently give rise to it. In this connection it may be stated that au 

 excessive quantity of any kind of the before-mentioned foods may bring 

 on this disorder, or it may not be due to excess, but to eating too hastily. 

 Sometimes the quality of the food is at fault. Grass or clover when 

 wet by dew or rain frequently disorders digestion and brings on tym- 

 panites; frozen roots or pastures covered with hoar frost should also 

 1)8 regarded as dangerous. When food has been eaten too hastily, or 

 when it is cold and wet, the digestive process is imperfectly performed, 

 and the food 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 accumu- 

 late until tympanites results. 



Symplons. — 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 bankbone 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 

 down and dies from suffocation. The distention of the stomach may 

 become so great as to prevejit the animal from breathing, and in some 

 instances the case may be complicated by rupture of the stomach. 



Treatment. — If the case is not extreme, it may be sufficient to drive 

 the animal at a walk for a quarter or half an hour; or cold water by 

 the bucketful may be thrown against the cow's sides. In some cases 

 the following simple treatment is successful: A rope or a twisted 

 straw band is coated with pine tar, wagon grease, or other unsavory 

 substance, and is placed in the cow's mouth as a bit, being secured 

 by tying behind the horns. The efforts of the animal to dislodge this 

 object result in movements of the tongue, jaws, and throat that stimu- 

 late the secretion of saliva and swallowing, thus opening the esoph- 

 agus, which permits the exit of gas, and at the same time peristalsis 



