DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 



507 



division. A more or less disordered process of digestion is apt to 

 occur in all kinds of animals for long periods of time. The dis- 

 turbance of this function may arise in consequence of irregular 

 feeding, inferior or bad food, want of exercise and confinement, 

 insuflBcient or improper ventilation, and other sanitary short- 

 comings and faults, or from exposure. It may be due to the 

 presence of foreign bodies or parasites, or to any cause which 

 may obstruct the functions of the skin or damage the system 

 generally, and thereby weaken all the vital processes. 



Again, it may be due to a disordered or disturbed condition of 



Fig. 67. — Chronic Indigestion. 



An ox which suffers from a chronic form of indigestion, may, like the co-w- 

 in the above picture, present sfgns of a depraved appetite. At the outset of the 

 disease, indeed, the symptoms may merely consist of an irregular and slightly 

 diminished appetite, which, however, may soon afterwards assume an extra- 

 ordinary character. The animal may lick the walls, stones, wood-work, and 

 even show a tendency to take into the mouth dirty straw, sand, stones, dung, 

 and all kinds of filth. The coat is staring, the skin is dry, the flanks are 

 hollow, unless they be inflated by reason of the presence of gases in the rumen, 

 there may be much loss of flesh, and altogether the ox may present a most 

 miserable appearance, which is very adequately represented in the above 

 illustration. 



the nervous system, such as is connected with the state of 

 pregnancy ; or, once more, it may be due to cancerous or other 

 disease of the stomach, or to stricture of the pyloric orifice (that 

 which connects the stomach with the intestines) ; or it may be 

 brought on by the habit of drinking large draughts of cold 

 water, or from the fact that the herbage is too scarce or indi- 

 gestible and innutritious ; or from cold and inclement weather, 

 coupled with an insufficiency of shelter. 



Chronic indigestion may show itself in various ways. At 

 first there is usually an irregularity and slight diminution of the 

 appetite. This afterwards not uncommonly takes on what is 



