SEPTIC^-MIA OF NEW-BORN ANIMALS. 



411 



circulation. The administration of purgatives and internal antiseptics 

 can, therefore, only prove illusory. 



On the other hand, prophylactic treatment is of the greatest value ; 

 all that is necessary is to prevent the umbilical cord from becoming 

 infected. 



The great mortality, which causes such severe loss to breeders, is 

 simply due to want of proper care of new-born animals. Even in 

 carefully kept byres the mortality may be high, for the specific agent 

 develops in litter contaminated with faecal matter, by lying on which 

 young animals become fatally infected. 



To check or prevent this septicaemia in breeding establishments, it is 

 merely necessary to take the same precaution as is taken in dealing with 

 young children, i.e., to apply an aseptic or antiseptic dressing to the stump 

 of the cord after ligation. As soon as the young animal has been dried 

 by the mother or by artificial 

 means, a carefully boiled 

 ligature is applied to the 

 cord at a distance of about 

 1 inch from the umbilical 

 ring. The portion of the 

 cord below the ligature is 

 snipped off, the remaining 

 part is carefully washed with 

 boiled water or boric solu- 

 tion, and is surrounded with 

 a mass of iodoform wool, kept 

 in place by a bandage passed 

 over the back. 



The cord will shrivel a 

 little less rapidly than it 

 would if exposed to the air, but will be protected from all infection. 

 The young animal should be separated from the mother to prevent 

 her from displacing the dressing by licking the parts. 



In a few days all danger is at an end. This method is very 

 simple, and can be carried out even by the breeder and in an in- 

 fected byre. Nocard recommends the use of umbilical dressings con- 

 taining collodion, and the practitioner can choose whichever method 

 he pleases. 



In grave outbreaks involving large establishments, the byres should 

 be rigorously disinfected, and it is sometimes well to segregate cows 

 about to calve in a special byre, from which the calves are not allowed 

 to pass until the umbilicus is cicatrised. 



Fig. 184. — Dressing for umbilicus of new- 

 born calf. 



