278" DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



and it usually shows itself before the end of the second week. It may 

 be preceded by constipation, as in retained mecoiiium or by fetid eruc- 

 tations and colicky pains, as in acute indigestion. The tail is stained 

 by the liquid dejections, which are at first simply soft and mixed with 

 mucus with a sour odor, accompanied by a peculiar and characteristic 

 fetor (suggesting rotten cheese), which continually grows worse. The 

 amount of water and mucus steadily increases, the normal predomi- 

 nance of fatty matters becoming modified by the presence of a consid- 

 erable amount of undigested casein, which is not present in the healthy 

 feces, and in acute cases death may result in one or two days from the 

 combined drain on the system and the poisoning by the absorbed 

 products of the decomposition in the stomach and bowels. When the 

 case is prolonged the passages, at first five or six per day, increase to 

 fifteen or twenty, and pass with more and more straining, so that they 

 are projected from the animal in a liquid stream. The color of the 

 feces, at first yellow, becomes a lighter grayish yellow or of a dirty 

 white (hence the name white scour), and the fetor becomes intolerable. 

 At first the calf retains its appetite, but as the severity of the disease 

 increases the animal shows less and less disposition to suck, and has 

 lost all vivacity, lying dull and listless, and when raised walking weakly 

 and unsteadily. Flesh is lost rapidly, the hair stands erect, the skin 

 gets dry and scurfy, the nose is dry and hot, or this condition alter- 

 nates with a moist and cool one. By this time the mouth and skin, as 

 well as the breath and dung, exhale the peculiar penetrating, sour, 

 offensive odor, and the poor calf has become an object of disgust to all 

 that approach it. At first, and unless inflammation of the stomach 

 and bowels supervene (and unless the affection has started in indiges- 

 tion and colic), the belly is not bloated nor painful on pressure, symp- 

 toms of acute colicky pains are absent, and the bowels do not rumble, 

 nor are bubbles of gas mingled with the feces. The irritant products 

 of the intestinal fermentations may, however, irritate and excoriate the 

 skin around the anus, which becomes red, raw, and broken out in sores 

 for some distance. Similarly the rectum, exposed by reason of the 

 relaxed condition of the anus, or temporarily in straining to pass the 

 liquid dejection, is of a more or less deep red, and it may be ulcerated. 

 Fever, with rapid pulse and increased breathing and temperature, 

 usually comes on with the very fetid character of the feces and is 

 more pronounced as the bowels become inflamed, the abdomen sore to 

 the touch and tucked up, and the feces more watery, and even mixed 

 with blood. 



The prevention of these cases is the prevention of constipation and 

 indigestion with all their varied causes as above enumerated, the selec- 

 tion of a strong, vigorous stock, and above all the combating of conta- 

 gion, especially in the separation of the sick from the healthy, and in 

 the thorough purification and disinfection of the buildings. The cleans- 

 ing and sweetening of all drains, the removal of dung heaps, and the 



