148 



CATTLE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



CATTLE, Seton, Mode of Inserting a. — 

 The seton is commonly made of tow and 

 horse hair plaited together, or cord or 

 coarse tape alone, or leather. It should 

 be tolerably thick, and eight, ten, or 

 twelve inches in length. Before inserting 

 the seton, it should be dipped in oil of tur- 

 pentine. The seton being now prepared, 

 an assistant is to hold the animal, while 

 the seton-needle, with the cord affixed to 

 it, is plunged into the upper edge of the 

 brisket or dewlap, and brought out again 

 towards its lower edge: the space between 

 the two openings should be from four to 

 eight inches. The seton is to be secured 

 by fastening a small piece of wood, or 

 tying a large knot at either end of the 

 cord. Matter will begin to run the sec- 

 ond day, and, after that, the cord should 

 be drawn backwards and forwards two or 

 three times every day, in order to irritate 

 the parts, and by this means increase the 

 discharge. 



When setoning is had recourse to in 

 inflammatory complaints, the cord should 

 be dipped in the following blistering oint- 

 ment: 



Take yellow basilicon I ounce 



Cantharides, in powder - - 3 drachms 

 Spirit of turpentine - 2 fluid drachms 



This ointment will be found to act effi- 

 caciously and quickly in stimulating the 

 parts to action, and hastening on the 

 suppurative process. 



The root of the common dock forms a 

 very good seton, and one that will act 

 speedily and powerfully ; but the best of 

 all, where a considerable effect is intended 

 to be produced, is the root of the black 

 hellebore. This will very quickly cause 

 considerable swelling as well as discharge. 



CATTLE, Cold and Cough— Hoose. — A 

 simple cold, attended by slight cough and 

 discharge from the nostrils, is easily 

 removed. Warm housing, a few mashes, 

 and the cough and fever will usually 

 succeed. 



(See No. 1 Drink in Domestic Ani- 

 mals, Medicine for.) 



There are few things, however, more 

 dangerous, if neglected, than cough or 

 hoose ; and there are few maladies that 

 are so often neglected. 



The farmer will go into the cow-house, 

 or into the pasture, again and again, and 

 hear some of his cows coughing, and that 

 perhaps hardly, or hollowly, or painfully ; 



but, while they continue to chew the cud, 

 and do not waste in flesh, he thinks little 

 about it, and suffers them to take their 

 chance. 



The inflammation is slight ; the animal 

 is scarcely ill at all ; the cough remits and 

 returns, with or without his observation. 

 He adds to it, perhaps, by improper treat- 

 ment. He exposes the beast unnecessarily 

 to cold or wet; or he crowds his cattle 

 into stables shamefully small compared 

 with the number of the animals, and the 

 air is hot and nauseous, and charged with 

 watery fluid thrown off from the lungs 

 and from the skin. The cough increases, 

 it becomes hoarse, and harsh, and painful; 

 and that affection is established which 

 oftener lays the foundation for consump- 

 tion and death than any other malady to 

 which these animals are exposed. 



That farmer is inattentive to his own 

 interests who suffers a cough, and espe- 

 cially a hoarse, feeble cough, to hang 

 about his cattle longer than he can help. 

 He should be warned in time, before his 

 cows are getting off their feed, and becom- 

 ing thin, and are half dry ; for then it will 

 generally be too late to seek for advice, or 

 to have recourse to medical care : the dis- 

 ease has fastened upon a vital part, and 

 the constitution is undermined. 



Cough occasionally assumes an epi- 

 demic character — from sudden changes of 

 the weather, chiefly and particularly in. 

 the spring and the fall of the year : it then 

 spreads over a great part of the country, 

 and is often particularly severe. 



The symptoms of epidemic cold or 

 catarrh, or influenza, as it is sometimes 

 called, are frequently serious. The beast 

 is dull and heavy, with weeping at the 

 eyes, and dry muzzle ; the hair looks pen- 

 feathered, or staring; the appetite fails; 

 the secretion of milk is diminished ; there 

 is considerable heaving of the flanks ; the 

 pulse is from 60 to 70, and the bowels are 

 generally costive or sapped. 



Cattle that have been tenderly managed 

 during the winter, and cows after calving,, 

 are very subject to it, especially if they 

 have been poorly fed, or driven long dis- 

 tances, and exposed to a cold, piercing 

 wind. 



It will be necessary to commence the 

 treatment of this disease with bleeding. 

 From four to six quarts of blood should 

 be taken, and then a dose of physic ad- 



