CATTLE. 145 



plants, bad water, etc., and is most liable to occur in the spring and fall. It often accom 

 panies other diseases, such as indigestion and dyspepsia. If slight, it may be but an effort of 

 nature to throw off some injurious substance from the body; but if too long continued it is 

 quite liable to debilitate the system, and run into dysentery, which is more difficult to cure. 

 It is particularly fatal to young calves, among which it is most common. 



A mild purgative should first be given in order to assist, rather than check nature in 

 the operation of throwing off from the system what may be injurious. The laxative may be 

 as follows: One-half pound of Epsom salts, one-half ounce of ginger, two drachms gentian, 

 mixed with one pint of gruel; this will be sufficient for a medium-sized animal. This should be 

 followed in a day or two by medicine of an astringent nature, such as two ounces of prepared 

 chalk, one ounce powdered oak bark, two drachms ginger, two drachms powdered catechu; 

 one-half drachm powdered opium, one ounce of peppermint water; mix and give in a quart of 

 warm gruel or milk. Sometimes a few ounces of finely pulverized charcoal will prove a 

 very good remedy. For calves, from two to four tablespoonfuls of the above mixture, 

 according to the size of the calf, may be given at morning and night in milk or gruel. One 

 or two tablespoonfuls of lime water mixed with the milk two or three times a day is excel 

 lent for young calves, with which an acid condition of the stomach is very common. 



With calves, the treatment should generally commence with a laxative dose, such as two 

 ounces of castor oil with a teaspoonful of powdered ginger, given in a half pint of milk. 

 About four hours afterwards give the following dose two or three times per day, according to 

 the condition of the patient: prepared chalk, two drachms, or one ounce of magnesia; ten 

 grains powdered opium, half a drachm powdered catechu; two drachms tincture capsicum; 

 a teaspoonful of essence of peppermint; mix and give twice a day in gruel or milk. An 

 ounce of starch or arrow root, boiled until it thickens, to which, when cold, add a half table- 

 spoonful of ground cinnamon and two scruples of Dover s powders, is an excellent -remedy 

 also for calves, given night and morning. 



In this disease give good nursing and avoid exposure to cold or storms. Common 

 diarrhoea may be distinguished from dysentery by a too abundant discharge from the bowels 

 in too fluid a form, the discharge sometimes being bloody. In dysentery the discharge is 

 frequently mixed with mucus and blood, and accompanied with hard straining, the discharge 

 being less in quantity than in diarrhoea, but more offensive. 



Dysentery. The symptoms of this disease are watery, bloody, and offensive discharges 

 from the bowels, attended with considerable fever, great thirst, loss of appetite, and frequent 

 attacks of severe pain. The secretion of milk gradually ceases, and the animal rapidly loses 

 flesh. A common diarrhoea will frequently, if neglected, terminate in dysentery. It is also 

 sometimes the result of a cold that settles in the bowels, eating poisonous plants, or from a 

 lack of a sufficient supply of nutritious food. Oxen that are overheated by hard work and 

 turned into a pasture to be exposed to a cold storm, are peculiarly liable to an attack of this 

 disease. 



The patient with this ailment should be kept in a warm stable and have careful nursing, 

 not being allowed to drink too much water, although a moderate supply may be given. The 

 treatment should be similar to that recommended for diarrhoea. If the discharge should be 

 very offensive, showing a badly diseased condition of the stomach and bowels, give the fol 

 lowing, one-half by mouth and the other half by injection: One-half ounce chloride of lime; 

 one-half ounce tincture of arnica; one ounce sulphuric ether, mixed with two quarts of starch 

 gruel. Dry, sweet food should be given, such as fine hay, oat meal, boiled potatoes, linseed 

 meal, etc. Water in which a pint of flaxseed has been boiled, or flaxseed gruel, is the best 

 drink in such cases. 



Epilepsy. This disease is quite rare in full grown cattle, except in cows after calving, 

 but is of more frequent occurrence in calves or young stock. The animal shivers, staggers, 



