36 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



Causes. It is not customary for the ox to drink much water at once. 

 In fact he usually drinks slowly, and as if he were merely tasting the 

 water, letting some fall out at the corners of his mouth at every mouth- 

 ful. He drinks much less in proportion to his size than the horse, and 

 when fed on green food or at pasture he may pass several days without 

 drinking. It would, therefore, seem to be contrary to the habits of the 

 ox to drink largely. But we find that during hot weather, when he has 

 been working and is consequently very thirsty, if he drinks a large 

 quantity of cold water he is immediately taken with a very severe colic. 

 Though Cruzel, a French writer on the diseases of the ox, is, of opinion 

 that these are the only conditions under which this form of colic arises, 

 I have known it to affect milch cows quite severely in winter, when they 

 are let out of a warm stable to be watered. Cows which are fed largely 

 on dry hay drink copiously, like the working ox, and become affected 

 in precisely the same manner. But the secretion of milk in the cow is 

 usually much diminished after such attacks. In such cases I have also 

 observed that they are seized with a chill or fit of trembling before the 

 cramps come on. 



Symptoms. There is some distension of the abdomen, but no accumu- 

 lation of gas. As the distension and pain occur immediately after the 

 animal has drunk the water there can not be any doubt as to the excit- 

 ing cause. Cruzel, in speaking of the treatment of this disease, says it 

 is customary among French farmers to walk or even trot the ox up and 

 down, and that as a result of this treatment the water passes from the 

 fourth stomach into the bowel, from which it is soon passed off not much 

 changed, except that it is slightly colored by the substances with which 

 it has come in contact in passing through the bowel. Diarrhea then 

 appears to be a favorable termination of this affection. 



Treatment. The treatment above described should be adopted in a 

 modified form. It is obviously dangerous to trot an animal whose 

 stomach and bowels are largely distended with water, but it appears 

 rational to walk the animal about for ten minutes before administering 

 medicine, as this allows time for a portion of the contents of the stom- 

 ach to pass into the bowel, and renders it safer to give medicine. In 

 many cases the walking exercise and the diarrhea bring about a spon- 

 taneous cure of this disorder, but as in some instances the cramps and 

 pains of the stomachs persist, I have been accustomed to give 1 

 ounce of sulphuric ether and 1 ounce of tincture of opium, shaken up 

 with a pint of warm water, and to repeat the dose in half an hour if the 

 animal is not relieved. In an emergency when medicine is not to be 

 had, half a pint of whisky may be substituted for medicine, and should 

 be given mixed with a pint of warm water ; or a tablespoonful of pow- 

 dered ginger may be administered in the same way as the remedies 

 already mentioned. I have never seen a case of this kind terminate 

 fatally, but Cruzel mentions that he has witnessed tv/o fatal cases. In 

 both the fourth stomach was congested, and in one case there was a 



