28 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



After having done this the uneasiness subsides and in a short time 

 the animal resumes eating as if nothing had happened. 



Cause. — The cause of this disordered state of the digestive S5'^stem 

 in cattle is usually obscure, but has in some cases been traced to a 

 partial closure of the opening into the second stomach or to a disten- 

 tion of the esophagus. It has been found to occur ^vhen there was 

 cancerous disease of the fourth stomach, and experimentally it has 

 been shown that a suspension of digestion or great derangement of 

 this stomach produces considerable nervous disorder of the rumen 

 and sometimes vomiting or attempts to vomit. 



Treatment. — Easily digested feed and plenty of water should be 

 given. Fear and excitement, chasing, or hurrying animals after 

 they have eaten heartily are liable to bring on this result. In order 

 to overcome irritation which may produce vomiting the folloAving 

 draft should be given: Hydrate of chloral, half an ounce; water, 1 

 pint. The dose must be repeated when the condition of the animal 

 seems to require it. As a rule, treatment is not successful. 



DEPRAVED APPETITE (PICA). 



Cattle suffering from this disease have a capricious and variable 

 appetite as regards their ordinary feed 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 these symptoms. 

 Animals affected in this way lose condition, their coat is staring, gait 

 sloAV, and small vesicles containing yellow liquid form under the 

 tongue; the milk given by such cows is thin and watery. Such ani- 

 mals become restless and uneasy, as is indicated by frequent bellow- 

 ing. The disease may last for months, the animal ultimately dying 

 emaciated and exhausted. Depraved appetite frequently precedes 

 the condition in which the bones of cattle become brittle and fracture 

 easih^, which is known as osteomalacia. 



Cause. — From the fact that this disease is largely one of regions, 

 it is generally believed that some condition of the soil and water and 

 of the local vegetation is responsible for it. It is more prevalent 

 some years than others, and is most common in old countries, where 

 the soil is more or less depleted. Cattle pastured on low, swampy 

 land become predisposed to it. It occasionally happens, however, 

 that one individual in a herd suffei's though all are fed alike; in such 

 cases the disease must arise from the affected animal's imperfect 

 assimilation of the nutritive elements of the feed which is supplied 

 to it. 



