242 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, 00 ATS, ETC. 



cooking destroys those that may be present, and, lastly, meat is not 

 consumed by very young children. 



Symptoms. Before describing the symptoms or signs by which 

 tuberculosis is recognized or suspected in a living animal it is well to 

 state that there is no symptom that can be relied on with certainty. 

 Any of the symptoms may sometimes be caused by some other dis- 

 ease, and not one of them is characteristic of tuberculosis alone. 



Many of the symptoms that are relied on by the human phy- 

 sician in reaching his opinion are not available in examining cattle. 

 The thickness of the skin and chest wall, for instance, makes it diffi- 

 cult to detect a diseased condition of their lungs by listening to the 

 sounds made in breathing, whereas this is comparatively easy in 

 human beings. 



It must also be clearly remembered that cattle may be very badly 

 diseased and yet show no symptoms of ill health. They may be fat 

 and sleek, looking the picture of health, while their lungs and other 

 organs are full of tubercles. Such cases can only be detected by the 

 tuberculin test. 



As tuberculosis may attack almost any organ of the body, we 

 may have in each case the symptoms connected with the part affected 

 as well as those affecting the general state of the body as a whole. We 

 will take up in detail each of the more important symptoms sugges- 

 tive of the disease : 



Unthriftiness. The animal is not doing as well as it should for 

 the care and feed it is getting. Its coat is rough and its skin has lost 

 its suppleness and feels harsh and thick. 



Loss of Flesh. Along with the unthriftiness is noticed a gradual 

 loss of flesh ; the animal gets thinner from week to week. It appears 

 to be pining away, and such cows have been known to dairymen for 

 a long time under the name of piners or wasters. After a time they 

 are reduced almost to skin and bone. 



Cough. This symptom is only present when the disease is at- 

 tacking the lungs or some part of the breathing organs. It is not a 

 loud, sonorous cough, but rather a subdued and infrequent one, and 

 may be heard only at such times as when the stable is first opened in 

 the morning or when the animal is driven. At a later stage of the 

 disease it may be heard at any time of the day. Cows do not usually 

 appear to cough up anything. This is because they do not spit. Most 

 of the material coughed up from the lungs is swallowed, but many 

 tuberculosis germs escape from the mouth in the form of spray or 

 are discharged from the nose. 



Enlarged Glands. Enlargements in the region of the throat, es- 

 pecially when they cause difficulty in breathing, are very apt to be 

 due to tuberculosis. 



Loss of Appetite. This symptom is not seen until the later stages 

 of the disease, when the animal is evidently wasting. 



Bloating. Sometimes the diseased glands in the chest prevent 

 the usual passage of gas from the paunch to the mouth by pressing on 

 the gullet. In this case the cow suffers from bloating, and the paunch 



