RABIES 95 



The diagnosis of rabies clinically can be made with 

 reasonable certainty by many experienced practition- 

 ers. A positive diagnosis is possible only by laboratory 

 methods. In cattle rabies occurs almost wholly in the 

 furious form; cases of paralytic rabies have been re- 

 ported in cattle only a few times. 



Nearly always the first symptom in cows is general 

 restlessness ; the animal moves forward and backward, 

 or stamps; shakes the head, gets up and lies down at 

 short intervals. Every few minutes small quantities 

 of urine and feces are passed, and the cow acts much 

 as when in heat. Now she begins to bellow furiously, 

 persisting sometimes for a quarter to half an hour 

 without a stop. 



The eyes are excessively dilated, with the conjunc- 

 tiva markedly injected and the vessels on the sclera 

 prominent. The expression of the face is that of a 

 combination of fear and anger, an expression that is 

 characteristic of the disease, and which experienced 

 practitioners recognize as readily as the expression 

 of the face in equine tetanus. (In some cases there 

 is some pruritus before other symptoms develop, but 

 we have seen only occasionally itching and rubbing 

 of the location of the wound through which the infec- 

 tion entered. While this may be a regular symptom 

 in other animals we have almost never seen it in our 

 experience with this disease in cattle.) 



The cow, if confined, soon begins to make attempts 

 to free herself; she plunges backward and forward, 

 rears up, and performs other acts of violence. If 

 other animals or persons approach her she makes furi- 

 ous attempts to attack them. If an object, such as 

 a broom or stick of wood is held in front of her she 

 fiercely bunts it with her head and grasps it v;^ith the 

 teeth if permitted to do so. 



