436 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



milk the more rapid the progress of the disease. Heifers with their 

 first calf are frequently affected, as these animals require a consider- 

 able quantity of animal salts for their own growth and for the nour- 

 ishment of their calves. 



Symptoms. In marked cases there is a gradual emaciation and 

 symptoms of gastro-intestinal catarrh, with depraved appetite, the 

 animal eating manure, decayed wood, dirt, leather, etc. Muscular 

 weakness is prominent, together with muscle tremors, which simu- 

 late chills, but are not accompanied by any rise of temperature. The 

 animal has a stiff, laborious gait, there is pain and swelling of the 

 joints, and a constant shifting of the weight from one leg to another. 

 The restricted movements of the joints are frequently accompanied 

 by a crackling sound, which has caused the name of creeps to be 

 applied to the disease. The coat is dull and rough and the skin dry 

 and hidebound. The animal is subject to frequent sprains or frac- 

 ture of bones without apparent cause, as in lying down or turning 

 around, and when such fractures occur they are difficult to unite. 

 The bones principally involved are the upper bones of the legs, the 

 haunch bone, and the middle bones of the spinal column. The dis- 

 ease in this country is confined to localized areas in the Southwest, 

 known as the alkali districts, and in the old dairy sections of New 

 York. The cause of this affection is the insufficiency or total absence 

 of lime salts in the food, also to feeding hay of low, damp pastures, 

 kitchen slops, and potatoes, or to overstocking lands. It occurs on 

 old, worn-out soil devoid of lime salts, and has also been observed to 

 follow a dry season. 



Treatment. This should consist in a change of food and the 

 artificial feeding of lime salts, such as magnesium and sodium phos- 

 phate. Foods containing mineral salts may be given, such as beans, 

 cowpeas, oats, cotton-seed meal, or wheat bran. Cotton-seed meal is 

 one of the best foods for this purpose, but it should be fed carefully, 

 as too large quantities are injurious to cows. Phosphorus may also be 

 given in one-fourth grain doses twice daily, together with a table- 

 spoonful of powdered bone meal or crude calcium phosphate at each 

 meal. Ordinary lime dissolved in drinking water (limewater) will 

 also be found efficacious in combating this disease, and can be pro- 

 vided at slight expense. A change of pasture to a locality where the 

 disease is unknown and a free supply of common salt and bone meal 

 will be the most convenient method of treating range cattle. 



SPRAINS. 



The most common accident occurring to bones and joints is a 

 sprain of the ligaments uniting the bones, or the tendons uniting the 

 muscles and bones. A sprain is the result of a sudden forcing of a 

 joint in an unnatural direction; or, if in a natural direction, beyond 

 the power of the ligament or tendon to restrain it properly, so that 

 part of the fibers of either are ruptured. When such an accident oc- 

 curs pain is immediately inflicted, varying in degree^with the extent 

 of the injury, which is soon followed by swelling, with more or less 

 heat and tenderness. If the seat of the injury be in any of the limbs, 

 lameness is likely to result. Of the causes of sprain, slipping on ice 



