DISEASES OP THE DIGESTIVE OEGAKS. 45 



ing occasional injections of warm water and soap. The diet should 

 be laxative and moderate in quantity and may consist of coarse bran 

 mash, pulped roots, grass in the season, and hay in moderate 

 quantit3^ 



HEPATITIS (INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER). 



Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver and usually occurs as a 

 complication of some infectious disease. It may also occur as a 

 complication of gastrointestinal catarrh or in hot weather from 

 overheating or damaged (putrid or fermented) feeds. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are sometimes obscure and their real 

 significance is frequently overlooked. The most prominent symp- 

 toms are yellowness of the white of the eye and of the membrane 

 lining the mouth ; the appetite is poor, the body presents an emaci- 

 ated appearance, the feces are light colored, while the urine is likely 

 to be unusually dark; there is thirst, and pain is caused by pressing 

 over the liver. The gait is weak and the animal lies down more 

 than usual, and while doing so frequently rests its head on the side 

 of its chest. 



Treatment. — Give a purge of Glauber's salt and after it has oper- 

 ated give artificial Carlsbad salts in each feed, as advised under 

 " Jaundice.-' Give green feed and plenty of water. Oil of turpen- 

 tine should be rubbed in well once a day over the region of the liver. 

 The skin on which it should be applied extends from the false ribs 

 on the right side to 6 inches in front of the last one, and from the 

 backbone to 12 inches on the right side of it. 



FLUKE DISEASE. 



[See chapter on " The animal parasites of cattle," p. .502.] 

 SPLENITIS (INFLAMMATION OF THE SPLEEN). 



This disease occurs almost solely as a result of the existence of 

 some infectious disease, and the symptoms caused by it merge with 

 the symptoms of the accompanying causative disease. The spleen is 

 seriously involved and becomes enlarged and soft in Texas fever, 

 anthrax, and blood poisoning. 



DISEASES OF THE PERITONEUM. 



PERITONITIS. 



Peritonitis consists of an inflammation of the peritoneum, which is 

 the thin, delicate membrane that lines the ?.bdomen and covers the 

 abdominal organs. 



Causes. — Wounds are the usual cause in cattle. The wound may 

 be of the abdominal wall or of the intestines, stomach, or uterus ; or 

 inflammation may extend from one of the organs of the abdominal 



