810 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



is very prevalent among cattle, especially milch cows, probably on account 

 of the drain on them of giving milk; this weakens the system, making 

 them more susceptible to the infection. It is thought by many to be pri- 

 marily a bovine disease, the horse seeming to possess an almost totai 

 immunity to it. 



On account of their lower grade of vitality, they are more susceptible 

 to influences that develop local diseases, as, for example, the miasma ol 

 low, marshy ground, especially that Avhich has been overflowed ; and also 

 to poor fodder, from must, or being affected with ergot, etc. 



There is a peculiar sympathy in disease among cattle, as is illustrated in 

 regard to abortion. It is a familiar experience that if one cow aborts 

 through accident, one or more of the others will abort through sympathy. 



Owing to theirnatural tendency to plethora, cattle seem peculiarly pre- 

 disposed to malignant ulcers, swellings, glandular enlargements and even 

 gangrene. To these they are more subject than any other of the domes- 

 tic animals. 



The nostrils, pharynx, larynx and trachea (wind-pipe) are much smaller 

 than in the horse, which is one reason why they cannot travel so fast nor 

 so long as the latter, — the wind fails. This also explains why suffocation 

 is a more imminent danger in cases of throat inflammation in cattle than 

 in horses, needing specially prompt and active treatment, even to the op- 

 eration of tracheotomy. 



The different arrangement of the digestive apparatus in cattle as com- 

 pared with the horse, is very marked, the former having four distinct 

 stomachs, while the latter has only one stomach, but a greater length of 

 intestines, which are also much more sensitive. Inflammation of the 

 bowels, so common with the horse, is quite rare with the ox. 



Cattle are less tolerant of disease and pain than the horse. They give up 

 in discouragement, after one or two attempts, and pine away under pain 

 very fast. They soon become indifferent to life, often refusing ta make 

 one effort to rise when perfectly able to do so ; and, as weakness follows 

 more rapidly in inflammatory diseases, these require more energetic 

 measures and an earlier administration of tonics and stimulants than when 

 treating the horse. 



III. Action of Remedies in Cattle. 



Eemembering the phlegmatic nature of cattle, remedies work very dif- 

 ferently with them than with the horse. Medicines should always be 

 given them in liquid form, and more bulky than for the horse ; and 

 they should contain something in the nature of a mild stimulant to 

 hasten their passage through the first three stomachs, and onto the fourth 

 stomach and intestines, where they can be taken up into the system by 

 the absorbents. 



