DISEASES OP THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 33 



shown that a suspension of digestion or great derangement of the fourth 

 stomach produces considerable nervous disorder of the rumen and some- 

 times vomiting or attempt to vomit. 



Treatment. Easily digested food and plenty of water should be given. 

 Fear and excitement, chasing or hurrying animals after eating heartily, 

 are apt to bring on this result. In order to remove the conditions which 

 produce vomiting the following draft should be given: Hydrate of 

 chloral, half an ounce; whisky, 8 ounces; water, 1 pint. The dose to 

 be repeated when the condition of the animal seems to require it. 



DEPRAVED APPETITE PICA. 



Cattle suffering from this disease have a capricious and variable appe 

 tite as regards their ordinary food, but evince a strong desire to lick and 

 eat substances for which healthy cattle show no inclination. Alkaline 

 and saline tasting substances are especially attractive to cattle having 

 a depraved appetite, and they frequently lick lime, earth, coal, gravel, 

 and even the dung of other cattle. Cows in calf and young cattle are 

 especially liable to develop those symptoms. Animals affected in this 

 way lose condition, their coat is staring, gait slow, and small vesicles 

 containing yellow liquid form under the tongue ; the milk given by cows 

 is thin and watery. Such animals become restless and uneasy, as is 

 indicated by frequent bellowing. The disease may last for months, the 

 animal ultimately dying, worn out by fever. Depraved appetite fre- 

 quently precedes the condition in which the bones of cattle become brit- 

 tle and fracture easily, and which is known by the name of osteomalacia. 



Causes. Bad food, especially food which has undergone changes 

 which lessen its digestibility and impair its nutritive value, is the com- 

 mon cause. It has been stated that the food of which animals partake 

 previous to becoming affected with this disease must be deficient in 

 some of the constituents required to supply the wear and growth of 

 the body, and especially that there is a deficiency of lime salts. Cattle 

 pastured on low, swampy land become predisposed to it. It occasion- 

 ally happens, however, that one individual in a herd suffers though all 

 arc fed alike; in such cases the disease must arise from the affected 

 animal not assimilating properly the nutritive elements of the food 

 which is supplied to it. 



Treatment. The aim in Riich cases must be to improve the process 

 of digestion and to supply the animal with a sufficiency of sound and 

 wholesome food. The following should be given to the cow three times 

 a day, a heaped tablespoonful constituting a dose: Carbonate of iron, 

 4 ounces; powdered gentian, 4 ounces; common salt, 4 ounces; pow- 

 dered fenugreek, 4 ounces; mix. In addition to this three tublo- 

 Bpoonfuls of powdered charcoal should be mixed with the animal's 

 food at least three times a day, and a piece of rock salt should be 

 placed where the animal can lick it at will. 

 24C97 3 



