DISEASES OF YOUNG CALVES. 253 



age may then be put around the body. In 10 hours an enormous 

 swelling will have taken place, pressing back the bowel into the abdo- 

 men. When this subsides the wound will have closed. 



DROPSY OF THE NAVEL. 



A sac formed at the navel, by contained liquid accumulated by rea- 

 son of sucking by other calves, is unsightly and sometimes injurious. 

 After making sure that it is simply a dropsical collection it may be 

 deeply punctured at various points with a large-sized lancet or knife, 

 fomented with hot water, and then daily treated with a strong decoc- 

 tion of white-oak bark. 



BLUE DISEASE (CYANOSIS). 



This appearing in the calf at birth is due to the orifice between the 

 two auricles of the heart (foramen ovale) remaining too open, allow^- 

 ing the nonaerated (venous) blood to mix with the aerated (arterial) 

 blood, and it is beyond the reach of treatment. It is recognized by 

 the blueness of the eyes, nose, mouth, and other mucous membranes, 

 the coldness of the surface, and the extreme sensitiveness to cold. 



CONSTIPATION. 



At birth the bowels of the calf contain the meconium, a tenacious, 

 gluey, brownish-yellow material largely derived from the liver, which 

 must be expelled before they can start their functions normally. 

 The first milk of the cow (colostrum, beestings), rich in albumin and 

 salts, is nature's laxative to expel this now^ offensive material and 

 should never be withheld from the calf. If, for lack of this, from the 

 dry feeding of the cow, or fi'om any other cause, the calf is costive, 

 straining violently without passage, lying down and rising as in colic, 

 and failing in appetite, no time should be lost in giving relief by an 

 ounce dose of castor oil, assisting its action by injections of soapsuds 

 or oil. Whatever meconium is within reach of the finger should be 

 carefully removed. It is also important to give the cow a sloppy, 

 laxative diet. 



INDIGESTION. 



This may occur from many different causes, as costiveness; a too 

 liberal supply of milk ; milk too rich ; the furnishing of the milk of a 

 cow long after calving to a very young calf ; allowing a calf to suck 

 the first milk of a cow that has been hunted, driven by road, shipped 

 by rail, or otherwise violently excited ; allowing the calf too long time 

 between meals, so that impelled by hunger it quickly overloads and 

 clogs the stomach ; feeding from the pail milk that has been held over 

 in unwashed (unscalded) buckets, so that it is fermented and spoiled; 

 feeding the milk of cows kept on unwholesome feed; keeping the 



