334 Acute Gastro-Intestinal Catarrli in Young Animals. 



enz^ine for some time after birtli. All these conditions fully 

 explain the sensitiveness of the gastro-intestinal tract of suck- 

 lings to noxious influences. In ruminants there is the further 

 cause that the fore-stomachs are not 3'et functioning and the 

 fluid food enters the ahomasum without any preliminary prepa- 

 ration. This fact becomes particularly important in young rum- 

 inants which have been weaned too early. 



Since sucklings, as a rule, receive only milk, an improper 

 composition of the latter is generally the cause of the atfection. 

 The character of milk is rarely influenced unfavorably by a too 

 abundant feeding of the mother animals with green feed or 

 clover hay. Much more dangerous is the milk after insufficient 

 feeding with watery, non-nutritious, spoiled feed. Certain com- 

 ponent parts of the feed, poisonous, oily resinous plants, and cer- 

 tain drugs, particularly laxatives, find their way into the milk 

 and exert a disease-producing effect upon the digestive organs 

 of the sucklings. The milk of cows which receive an abundance 

 of distillery slop or oil cakes may produce gastro-intestinal ca- 

 tarrh in calves. 



Certain diseases of the mother animals produce changes in 

 the functions of the mammary glands. Most dangerous in this re- 

 spect are the acute infectious diseases and still more the inflam- 

 matory diseases of the udder. In the course of acute infectious 

 diseases the milk, which is also changed in its composition, fre- 

 quently contains toxins, and in mastitis certain pathogenic bac- 

 teria may coagulate the milk in the udder, or this may 

 have undergone slimy or other changes. Hence sucklings al- 

 most invariably become sick if the mother animal suffers from 

 acute parenchymatous or any other form of mastitis, from foot- 

 and-mouth disease, smallpox, epizootic aphtha, or tuberculosis 

 of the udder. Excessive exertion of the mother animal likewise 

 disturbs the proper secretion of milk. 



Disease of 3'oung animals is frequently seen in artificial 

 feeding with milk, when the attendants lack in proper cleanli- 

 ness. Milk is a favorable soil for a variety of bacteria and mil 

 easily decompose, the organic acids then formed causing ca- 

 tarrhal processes in the gastro-intestinal tract of young ani- 

 mals. It must also be considered that boiling destroys certain 

 ferments contained in the milk which assist the functions of the 

 gastro-intestinal tract; still more dangerous are milk substi- 

 tutes; these contain flour almost without exception and are 

 easily decomposed ; unsatisfactory is likewise skimmed milk to 

 which flour, bread, etc., have been added. 



The ingestion of too large amounts of otherwise unobjec- 

 tionable milk often produces digestive disturbances. A mistake 

 is sometimes made in allowing young animals to suck only at 

 long intervals, for instance morning and evening; under these 

 conditions the stomach is not able to work up properly the ex- 

 cessive amount of ingested milk. On the other hand, a mistake 

 may be made in the other direction, the young animals may be 



