406 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



with inflammatory irritation or not ; certainly we fail to discover any 

 morbid changes in the skin. There is to some extent a delightful sen- 

 sation produced by rubbing, and it may partly become a habit of 

 pleasure. 



Treatment. We must place our chief reliance upon a change of 

 food, plenty of exercise, and in most cases the administration of an 

 active cathartic 1 to 1% pounds of Epsom salts, a handful of com- 

 mon salt, a tablespoonful of ginger or pepper, mixed with 2 quarts of 

 water, all of which is to be given at one dose. Afterwards half an 

 ounce of hyposulphite of soda may be given twice a day for a week, 

 mixed with the feed. For an external application, when the skin is 

 abraded or thickened from rubbing, a solution of borax, 4 ounces to 

 the quart of water, may be used. Carbolic acid, % ounce to a quart 

 of water, will give relief in some cases. 



ERYTHEMA. 



This is the simplest form of inflammation of the skin. It con- 

 sists of an increased redness, which may occur in patches or involve 

 considerable surface. The red coloration disappears when pressed 

 upon by the finger, but soon returns after the pressure is removed. 

 There is seldom much swelling of the affected part, though often a 

 glutinous discharge may be noticed, which dries and mats the hair or 

 forms a thin scale upon the skin. In simple erythema the epidermis 

 alone is affected; when it becomes chronic, fissures form, which ex- 

 tend into the corium, or true skin. 



Causes. Simple erythema, consisting of an inflammatory irrita- 

 tion, is witnessed in very young calves, in which the navel leaks. The 

 discharge being urine, it causes an irritation of the surrounding skin. 

 Chafing, which is another form of erythema, is occasionally seen on 

 the udder of cows from rubbing by the legs ; chafing between the legs 

 is not uncommon among fat steers. Chronic erythema is found in 

 the form of chapped teats of cows and chapped lips in sucking calves. 

 It frequently occurs in cows when they are turned out in winter di- 

 rectly after milking, and in others from chafing by the calf in suck- 

 ing. Some cows are peculiarly subject to sore teats. The fissures 

 when neglected in the early stage of formation become deep, very 

 painful, often bleeding at the slightest touch, and cause the animal 

 to become a kicker when milked in that condition. Occasionally the 

 lower portions of the legs become irritated and chapped when cattle 

 are fed in a muddy or wet yard in winter, or if they are compelled to 

 wade through water in frosty weather. Another form of erythema 

 occurs in young cattle highly fed and closely stabled for a long winter. 

 The erythema appears in patches, and as it is most common near the 

 end of the winter it is known as the "spring eruption" or "spring 

 itch." 



Treatment. In ordinary cases of erythema the removal of the 

 cause and the application of benzoated oxide of zinc ointment, carbo- 

 lized cosmoline, or a mixture of creolin, 1 ounce to a pint of water, 

 applied a few times, will restore the skin to a healthy condition. 

 When there are fissures the zinc ointment is the best. If at the teats, 

 a milk siphon should be used instead of milking by hand, and the 



