CHAP. i. DIARRHCEA IN CATTLE. 555 



deep moan or grunt is heard now and again, while the teeth are forcibly 

 ground. 



Treatment, Place the affected animal in a clean, warm, well ventilated 

 shed, and clothe the body with a woollen rug. Give an oleaginous 

 purge to remove offending matter from the digestive canal, one to two 

 ounces of castor oil with a teaspoonful of laudanum will serve the pur- 

 pose. Then every three hours administer two tablespoonfuls of the 

 following mixture in half a pint of water : 



Prepared chalk one ounce, tincture of catechu one ounce, tincture of 

 opium half an ounce, bi-carbonate of potash a drachm and a half, 

 whisky one ounce, powdered cassia half a drachm. Water sufficient to 

 make up eight ounces. 



Medical treatment is of little avail, and it is advisable to aim at 

 prevention. 1 



DIARRHCEA OR SCOUR. Diarrhoea is characterised by the frequent 

 discharge of thin watery dung. It is the result of some irritating 

 influence acting upon the delicate membrane of the bowels, either 

 through the blood or in the food or water ingested. It is, therefore, a 

 symptom of disease affecting the intestinal canal. 



The causes which induce it are many and varied. They are chills, 

 drinking large quantities of cold water while heated and fatigued, or 

 sudden changes of diet, especially from dry to rapidly grown, rank 

 herbage, or ill- conditioned roots. Excessive quantities of undecorticated 

 cotton-cake, and irritant and acrid plants also induce it. Diarrhoea 

 is sometimes the result of imperfect mastication and ravenous feeding. 

 It also attends structural disease of the liver, and tubercular affections 

 of the intestines, and may have its origin in water charged with organic 

 and other impurities, particularly when habitually taken in the summer 

 season. 



Symptoms. The chief feature of the disease is the frequent and 

 forcible expulsion of faeces. These are usually of a thin watery charac- 

 ter and sometimes offensive. They are often mingled with a greater 

 or less amount of thick mucous fluid, the presence of which is shown 

 by the bubbles of gas which it entangles in the excrement. When the 

 disorder is only of a temporar} 7 character there is little else to be 

 noticed than looseness of the bowels. In severe and protracted cases, 

 however, the appetite fails, rumination is suspended or only tardily 

 performed, the body consequently shrinks, and there is marked illness. 

 The pulse is quick, small, and weak, the breathing shows slight distur- 

 bance, and the visible mucous membranes are pale and bloodless. 

 Impairment of the digestive function is further shown by frequent 

 eructations of gas from the stomach and low rumblings of the abdominal 

 organs. Abdominal pain is mostly present in protracted cases and is 

 expressed by grinding the teeth, restlessness, and an occasional look 

 towards the flank. Where diarrhoea results from organic disease of the 

 liver or lungs, as sometimes occurs, the cause of the disorder is mani- 

 fested by special symptoms referring to those organs, as well as by the 

 chronic character of the case. 



1 Preventive measures should consist of the free use of disinfectants in cow-house", calving- 

 pens, &c., also the application of disinfectant dressings to the navels of calves immediately 

 after birth and two < r three days longer. The internal administration of medicine calculated 

 to destroy or neutralize the virus should be adopted when the disease has made its appearance. 



