32 . DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



INDIGESTION IN CALVES (GASTROINTESTINAL CATARRH, DIARRHEA, OR SCOUR). 



Calves are subject to a form of diarrhea to which the foregoing 

 designations have been applied. 



Causes. — Calves that suck their dams are not frequently affected 

 with this disease, though it may be occasioned by their sucking at 

 long intervals and thus overloading the stomach and bringing on 

 indigestion, or from improper feeding of the dam on soft, watery, or 

 damaged feeds. Suckling the calf at irregular times may also cause 

 it. Exposure to damp and cold is a potent predisposing cause. 

 Calves separated from their dams and fed considerable quantities 

 of cold milk at long intervals are liable to contract this form of 

 indigestion. Calves fed on artificial feed, used as a substitute for 

 milk, frequently contract it. Damaged feed, sour or rotten milk, 

 milk from dirty cans, skim milk from a dirty creamery skim-milk 

 vat, skim milk hauled warm, exposed to the sun and fed from un- 

 clean buckets may all cause this disease. 



Symptoms. — The calf is depressed; appetite is poor; sometimes 

 there is fever ; the extremities are cold. The dung becomes gradually 

 softer and lighter in color until it is cream colored and little thicker 

 than milk. It has a most offensive odor and may contain clumps of 

 curd. Later it contains mucus and gas bubbles. It sticks to the 

 hair of the tail and buttocks, causing the hair to drop off and the skin 

 to become irritated. There may be pain on passing dung and also 

 abdominal or colicky pain. The calf stands about with the back 

 arched and belly contracted. There may be tympanites. Great 

 weakness ensues in severe cases, and without prompt and successful 

 treatment death soon follows. 



Treatment. — Remove the cause. Give appropriate feed of best 

 quality in small quantities. Make sure that the cow furnishing the 

 milk is healthy and is properly fed. Clean all milk vessels. Clean 

 and disinfect the stalls. For the diarrhea give two raw eggs or a cup 

 of strong coffee. If the case is severe, give 1 ounce of castor oil with 

 a teaspoonful of creolin and 20 grains of subnitrate of bismuth. 

 Kej^eat the bismuth and creolin with flaxseed tea every four hours. 

 Tannopin may be used in doses of 15 to 30 grains. 



Calves artificially fed on whole or skim milk should receive only 

 such milk as is sweet and has been handled in a sanitary manner. 

 Milk should always be Avarmed to the temperature of the body 

 before feeding. When calves artificially milk-fed develop diarrhea, 

 the use of the following treatment has given excellent results in many 

 cases : Immediately after milking, or the separation of the skim milk 

 from the cream, formalin in the proportion of 1 to 4,000 should be 

 added to the milk which is used for feeding; this may be closely 

 approximated by adding four drops of formalin to each quart of 



