8 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



The mouth of the bottle should be inserted as far as the middle of 

 the tongue and the contents poured slowl3% If the cow coughs, the 

 head must at once be lowered to permit the fluid to escape from the 

 larynx. If medicine is given during coughing, some of the dose may 

 pass down the windpipe to the lungs and cause a severe or a fatal 

 pneumonia. This is especially to be guarded against when the 

 throat is partly paralyzed or insensitive, as in parturient paresis 

 (milk fever). In this disease it has often happened that drenches 

 have been poured into the lungs, thus killing the coav. 



The quantity of fluid to be given in a drench depends upon the 

 eflfect desired and the nature of the medicine. In impactions of 

 the stomach very large quantities of fluid may be given — as much as 

 a gallon or several gallons at a time. Usually, however, it is not 

 customary or desirable to give more than from 1 to 2 quarts at a dose, 

 and not more than a pint unless it is necessary on account of the 

 irritant quality of the drug that has to be shielded with a large 

 quantity of the vehicle. 



Soluble medicines should be completely dissolved before they are 

 given; insoluble ones should be finely divided by powdering or by 

 shaking, and should be well agitated and mixed immediately before 

 they are given. In the latter case a menstruum with considerable 

 body, such as molasses or flaxseed tea or milk, will help to hold solids 

 or oils in suspension until swallowed. 



Balls are large pills adapted for the larger animals. Powders or 

 gums are sometimes mixed with an adhesive substance and rolled 

 into balls for the purpose of conA^enience of administration. Balls 

 are not used so much and are not so well adapted to the medication 

 of cattle as of horses. The process of solution is slower in the paunch 

 of a cow than in the stomach of a horse; if the cow is so sick as 

 to have stopped ruminating, a ball may get covered up and lost 

 in the mass of material in the paunch and so lie for days, producing 

 no effect whatever. 



Capsules are shells or envelopes made of soluble gelatin in which 

 powders or liquids may be inclosed. Capsules and balls are adminis- 

 tered by being placed on the tongue well back in the mouth Avhile 

 the tongue is drawn forward and the mouth is held open by a block 

 of wood between the back teeth. The ball should be dropped, the 

 tongue released, and the block removed as nearly simultaneously as 

 possible, so that the backward carriage of the tongue will throAv the 

 ball into the throat and lead to its being swallowed. In introducing 

 the ball care must be taken to avoid having the hand cut or crushed. 

 After a little experience it is possible to do away with the block of 

 wood. 



By the stomach. — Medicines are introduced directly into the first 

 stomach by the use of an esophageal tube or through the cannula of a 



