DISEASES OK DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 199 



Treatment. — Regulate the diet ; give good food ; give about eight 

 ounces of Epsom salts and an ounce of saltpetre, dissolve in a quart 

 of water, and follow it by a few doses of diuretic medicine. If the 

 udder is swollen and hard, foment and hand-rub it, and, in some 

 cases, use some simple ointment, as calamine ointment ; stimulants 

 are generally unnecessary. If it continues too long, give a few doses 

 of iodide of potassium. It is a simple febrile affection. Give but 

 little food for twenty-four or thirty hours. 



Pu»'pliral Fever, of which there may be different kinds — a par- 

 turient peritonitis, in which the peritoneum and uterus are inflamed, 

 and, perhaps, the large nerves of the parts involved. Another serious 

 condition is that in which the brain is the principal seat of the dis- 

 ease, but the spinal cord is involved. This is called parturient apop- 

 lexy. There is another form in which the spine is the principal seat 

 of the disease, and the large nerves going from the spine to the poste- 

 rior extremity of the body are affected, causing loss of power, and in 

 post mortems there is sometimes effusion into the peritoneal cavity. 

 I will first speak of 



Parturient Peritonitis, but the inflammation is not generally con- 

 fined to the peritoneum alone, but it also affects the uterus, and we 

 have a low fever, and in post mortems we find diffuse inflammation of 

 the peritoneum, and more or less in the uterus. The vessels going to 

 and coming from the uterus are affected, and the nerves are thickened 

 to a certain extent. It may occur at any age and follow any case of 

 parturition, but it is generally the result of bad usage, either before or 

 after parturition. Animals exposed to the cold, or having been driven, 

 are more liable to it. 



Symptoms. — It usually shows itself the second, third or fourth day 

 after calving. The supply of milk is impaired more or less ; the 

 urine is coffee-coloured, and it usually attains its intensity in from 

 six to ten hours. The symptoms are somewhat like parturient 

 apoplexy ; she paddles with the feet when walking ; looks at the sides ; 

 lies down, and, in some cases, is not able to get up — (when a cow 

 becomes affected by urinary or abdominal diseases she is generally 

 very helpless) — she will moan, stretch out the neck, lift the head and 

 look at the flanks ; respiration increases ; the mouth, muzzle and 

 horns hot, and the temperature of the body is increased ; constipation 

 is present, and if any feces are passed they will be hard and covered 

 with mucous ; and there may be a discharge of a brownish-coloured 

 fluid from the vulva ; power is lost, and you are apt to think it is 

 apoplexy. But there are no cerebral symptoms developed, and there 

 is more pain present. It is a very fatal complaint. 



Treatment. — Give sedatives and opiates. At one time purgatives 

 were recommended, but I do not use them as freely as I used to do, 

 and do not recommend giving large doses of purgative medicine. 

 But it is good to give a slight laxative, and opiates do not act so well 

 in cattle, but give opium and belladonna. Some recommend blood- 

 letting in the early stages ; but if the cow is down, and effusion has 

 taken place, blood-letting should not be practised. Attend to the care 

 of the animal, and get her well on the breast, and if the bowels are 

 costive give injections, and if feces are passed freely it seems to give 

 relief. Draw the urine with the catheter if it does not come away. 

 Use counter-irritation, which must be stronger for cattle than horses, 

 and sometimes use a little croton oil. Sometimes this prevails as an 

 enzootic disease, due to the manner in which they are kept and the 

 weather. 



