DISEASES OF CATTLE 219 



second week. It may be preceded by constipation, as in retained 

 meconium, or by fetid eructations and colicky pains, as in acute 

 indigestion. The tail is stained by the liquid dejections, which are 

 at first simply soft and mixed with mucus with a sour oaor, accom- 

 panied by a peculiar and characteristic fetor (suggesting rotten 

 cheese), which continually grows worse. The amount of water and 

 mucus steadily increases, the normal predominance of fatty matters 

 becoming modified by the presence of a considerable amount of un- 

 digested casein, which is not present in the healthy feces, and in 

 acute cases death may result in one or two days from the combined 

 drain on the system and the poisoning by the absorbed products of 

 the decomposition in the stomach and bowels. When the case is 

 prolonged the passages, at first five or six per day, increase to fifteen 

 or twenty, and pass with more and more straining, so that they are 

 projected from the animal in a liquid stream. The color of the 

 feces, at first yellow, becomes a lighter grayish yellow or a dirty 

 white (hence the name white scour), and the fetor becomes intol- 

 erable. 



At first the calf retains its appetite, but as the severity of the 

 disease increases, the animal shows less and less disposition to suck, 

 and has lost all vivacity, lying dull and listless, and, when raised, 

 walking weakly and unsteadily. Flesh is lost rapidly, the hair stands 

 erect, the skin gets dry and scurfy, the nose is dry and hot, or this 

 condition alternates with a moist and cool one. By this time the 

 mouth and skin, as well as the breath and dung, exhale the peculiar 

 penetrating, sour, offensive odor, and the poor calf has become an 

 object of disgust to all that approach it. At first, and unless inflam- 

 mation of the stomach and bowels supervene (and unless the affec- 

 tion has started in indigestion and colic), the belly is not bloated 

 or painful on pressure, symptoms of acute colicky pains are absent, 

 and the bowels do not rumble, neither are bubbles of gas mingled 

 with the feces. The irritant products of the intestinal fermentations 

 may, however, irritate and excoriate the skin around the anus, which 

 becomes red, raw, and broken out in sores for some distance. Sim- 

 ilarly, the rectum, exposed by reason of the relaxed condition of 

 the anus, or temporarily in straining to pass the liquid dejection, is 

 of a more or less deep red, and it may be ulcerated. Fever, with 

 rapid pulse and increased breathing and temperature, usually comes 

 on with the very fetid character of the feces and is more pronounced 

 as the bowels become inflamed, the abdomen sore to the touch and 

 tucked up, and the feces more watery, and even mixed with blood. 



Prevention. The prevention of these cases is the prevention of 

 constipation and indigestion, with all their varied causes as above 

 enumerated, the selection of a strong, vigorous stock, and, above all, 

 the combating of contagion, especially in the separation of the sick 

 from the healthy, and in the thorough purification and disinfection 

 of the buildings. The cleansing and sweetening of all drains, the 

 removal of dung heaps, and the washing and scraping of floors and 

 walls, followed by a liberal application of chlorid of lime (bleaching 

 powder) , 4 ounces to the gallon, are indicated. Great care must be 



