CATTLE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



169 



xj{ these animals, and the difficulty of 

 fattening them thoroughly, is easily ac- 

 counted for. 



Some farmers go a little more judici- 

 ously to work. They thrust a flexible 

 stick, or a cart-whip, down the throat, 

 and through the floor of the passage 

 beneath, and the roof of the paunch, 

 and thus enable some of the gas to 

 escape; and this, perhaps, would be 

 effectual, if the stick could be kept there 

 long enough, and the stomach did not 

 close around it. 



CATTLE, Inflammation of the Bowels, 

 with Costiveness. — Inflammation of the 

 bowels is by no means an uncommon dis- 

 ease among neat cattle, and frequently 

 proves fatal to them from injudicious treat- 

 ment. It is a complaint easily recogniz- 

 able on account of the peculiar symp- 

 toms by which it is attended. 



The animal is continually lying down 

 and getting up again immediately, and, 

 when up, he strikes at his belly with the 

 hind feet. The bowels are obstinately 

 constipated : the dung, if any is voided, 

 is in small quantities — hard, covered with 

 mucus, and that sometimes streaked with 

 blood — and the urine is generally voided 

 with difficulty. The pulse is quicker than 

 natural, and there is much heaving at the 

 flanks. 



It is distinguished from colic by the 

 great degree of fever that evidently at- 

 tends it, the muzzle being dry and the 

 mouth hot. The animal becomes speed- 

 ily weak, he falls or throws himself down 

 suddenly, and when he rises he does it 

 with difficulty, and he staggers as he 

 walks. The lowness and weakness ap- 

 pear more speedily and decidedly than in 

 almost any other disease. 



The attack is sudden, like that of colic. 

 The animal quits his companions and 

 hides himself under the hedge. If he is 

 in the plow, he all at once becomes deaf 

 to the voice of the driver, and insensible 

 to the goad. He trembles all over — his 

 skin becomes hot — his back and loins are 

 tender — his ears and horns are hot. Ev- 

 erything indicates the highest degree of 

 local inflammation and general fever. 



The disease mostly arises from sudden 

 exposure to cold; and especially when 

 cattle go into rivers or ponds after being 

 heated and fatigued. It is sometimes pro- 



duced by change of pasture and feeding 

 too much on dry and stimulating diet. 



The first thing to be done, and that 

 which admits of no delay, is to bleed ; 

 from six to eight quarts of blood at least j 

 should be taken away. Immediately after- 

 ward the Physic Drink (see No. 1 5 Do- 

 mestic Animals, Medicines for,) should 

 be administered, and its effect promoted 

 by half doses of Purging Drink, No. 2, 

 given every six hours. This is a very 

 dangerous disease, and the measures pur- 

 sued must be of the most decisive kind. 

 The symptoms succeed each other rapidly, 

 and if one day is suffered to pass without 

 proper means being taken, the beast is 

 irrecoverably lost. 



The third stomach or manyplus will 

 generally be found, after death, choked up 

 with dry food, hardened between the 

 leaves of which that stomach is composed. 

 It will be necessary to wash this well out 

 before the proper path to the fourth 

 stomach can be opened. In order to 

 effect this, plenty of thin gruel, or water 

 with the chill taken off, should be given ; 

 or, if the beast will not drink it, several 

 quarts of it should be horned down. Clys- 

 ters of warm water or thin gruel, with a 

 purging powder dissolved in them, should 

 likewise be administered. 



After having bled the animal once co- 

 piously, and, if the fever has not subsided, 

 a second, or even a third time, the farmer 

 should in this disease of high inflamma- 

 tion of the bowels, and strangly obstinate 

 costiveness, found his only hope of saving 

 the animal in producing purging, and to 

 this purpose his whole attention should be 

 directed. 



If it should not be accomplished after 

 the third dose of the medicine, a pound of 

 common salt may be given. The water 

 or other liquid which the beast will prob- 

 ably be induced to drink will assist in 

 purging him. Should not this succeed, a 

 pound and a half of castor oil must be ad- 

 ministered. 



The patience of the attendants will 

 sometimes be almost worn out — they 

 must, however, persist. Clysters, numer- 

 ous, and in great quantity, must be ad- 

 ministered. The Epsom salts and the 

 castor oil will not do harm in whatever 

 quantities they are given ; it will not be 

 prudent, however, to repeat the common 

 salt. During the whole of this time the 



