DISEASES OF CATTLE 



calf, if there is one suckled, should be taken away. When the calf's 

 mouth is affected it should be fed by hand. When the legs are irri- 

 tated or chapped, dry stabling for a few days and the application of 

 tar ointment will soon heal them. 



URTICARIA (NETTLE RASH, OR SURFEIT). 



This is a mild inflammatory affection of the skin, characterized 

 by sudden development of patches of various sizes, from that of a 

 nickel to one as large as the hand. The patches of raised skin are 

 marked toy an abrupt border and are irregular in form. All the 

 swelling may disappear in a few hours, or it may go away in one 

 place and reappear on another part of the body. It is always accom- 

 panied by a great desire to rub the affected part. In its simplest type, 

 as just described, it is never followed by any serious exudation or erup- 

 tions, unless the surface of the skin becomes abraded from scratching 

 or rubbing. 



Causes. Derangements of the digestive organs are the most com- 

 mon causes, such as overloading the stomach when the animal is 

 turned out to graze in the spring, certain constituents of food, and 

 high feeding among fattening stock. When the kidneys are func- 

 tionally deranged, urticaria may appear. Spinal irritation and other 

 nervous affections may cause it. The disease consists in a paralysis 

 of the nerve ends that control the volume of the capillary vessels in 

 certain areas of skin, thus permitting the vessels to expand, their 

 contents in part to exude, and thus produce a soft, circumscribed 

 swelling. 



Treatment. Administer a full dose of Epsom salts. Give soft, 

 easily digested food, and wash the affected parts with a solution of 

 bicarbonate of soda common baking soda 8 ounces to the gallon of 

 water twice a day, or diluted glycerin may be applied to the skin. If 

 it assumes a persistent tendency, give a tablespoonful of the following 

 powder in the feed three times a day : Cream of tartar, sulphur, and 

 nitrate of potash, equal parts by weight ; mix. 



ECZEMA. 



Eczema is a noncontagious inflammation of the skin, character- 

 ized by any or all of the results of inflammation at once or in succes- 

 sion, such as erythema, vesicles, or pustules, accompanied by more or 

 less infiltration and itching, terminating in a watery discharge, with 

 the formation of crusts or in scaling off. The disease may run an 

 acute course and then disappear, or it may become chronic; therefore, 

 two varieties are recognized, vesicular, or pustular, and chronic 

 eczema. 



Causes. Eczema is not so common among cattle as in horses and 

 in dogs, in which it is the most common of all skin diseases. Among 

 cattle it is occasionally observed under systems of bad hygiene, filthi- 

 ness, lousiness, overcrowding, overfeeding, excessively damp or too 

 warm stables. It is found to develop now and then in cattle that are 

 fed upon sour substances, distillery swill, house or garden garbage, 

 etc. Localized eczema may be caused by irritant substances applied 

 to the skin turpentine, ammonia, the essential oils, mustard, Span- 

 ish fly ointment, etc. Occasionally an eruption with vesiculation of 



