COMMON AILMENTS OF COWS AND CALVES, AND 

 THEIR TREATMENT. 



BY DR. A. H. HARTWIG, VETERINARIAN. 



Watertvwn, Wis. 



ACUTE INDIGESTION. 



Acute indigestion is the sudden cessation of digestion whether partial 

 or complete, and just as soon as you get suspended digestion, fermentation 

 and decomposition take place at once, evolution of gas is inevitable, and, 

 unless relieved, serious results will follow. It is often fatal in from 20 

 minutes to 60 hours, but if the animal lives 24 hours, she will likely recover. 

 Most of the deaths occur in the first 6 or 7 hours. 



CAUSES. Overloading of the paunch; cold, frosted or frost covered 

 fodder; the feeding on pastures before the proper season; very hot or cold 

 drinks, and external colds, improper feeding; a sudden change from dry 

 to green food or from green to dry; new hay ingested to excess, especially 

 if the animals drink a large quantity of water immediately after eating; 

 eating the placenta, mouldy or decomposing food, and foreign bodies of all 

 kinds. 



SYMPTOMS. The animal keeps away from the manger; the back is 

 arched upward, the limbs are gathered together, the coat becomes stairing 

 and the animal expresses an anxious countenance; the ears and horns are 

 alternately cold and hot ; there are often chills and muscular tremblings ; 

 the appetite and rumination are suspended. The abdomen becomes in- 

 flated and is especially prominent on the left side. The paunch is lifted 

 by gases; its contents can only be felt by exerting strong pressure upon it, 

 which sometimes produces a dull bruit. The movements of the paunch 

 and its bruits are weakened and sometimes entirely suspended. Defeca- 

 tions are rare; the fecal matters are harder and of a darker color than normal, 

 and often enveloped in a thin crust ; we may find them ring-streaked and 

 leaving a putrid odor; they are sometimes covered with mucus and form 

 clammy and shiny masses. When diarrhea exists, the excrements 

 are mixed with alimentary matters which have not at all been digested. 



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