258 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



in the body of the cow. The calves should be carefully kept apart 

 from all calving cows and their discharges. Similarly each calf 

 must have special attention to see that its nurse gives milk which 

 agrees with it, and that this is furnished at suitable times. If allowed 

 to suck, it should either be left with the cow or be fed three times a 

 day. If it becomes hungry twice a day, it is more liable to overload 

 and derange the stomach, and if left too long hungry it is tempted 

 to take in unsuitable and unwholesome feed, for which its stomach 

 is as yet unprepared. So, if fed from the pail, it is safer to do so 

 three times daily than twice. There should be the utmost cleanliness 

 of feeding dishes, and the feeder must be ever on the alert to prevent 

 the strong and hungry from drinking the milk of the weaker in 

 addition to their own. In case the cow nurse has been subjected 

 to any great excitement by reason of travel, hunting, or carrying, 

 the first milk she yields thereafter should be used for some other 

 purpose and only the second allowed to the calf. Indeed, one and 

 all of the conditions indicated above as causes should be judiciously 

 guarded against. 



Treatment. — Treatment varies according to the nature and stage 

 of the disease. When the disease is not widespread, but isolated 

 cases only occur, it may be assumed to be a simple diarrhea and is 

 easily dealt with. The first object is to remove the irritant matter 

 from stomach and bowels, and for this 1 or 2 ounces of castor oil 

 may be given, according to the size of the calf. Reduce the milk b}' 

 one-half or two-thirds. If the stools smell particularly sour, the milk 

 may be replaced by 1 ounce calcined magnesia, and in any case a 

 tablespoonful or two of limewater must be given with each meal. 

 Great harm is often done by giving opium and astringents at the 

 outset. These serve merely to bind up the bowels and retain the irri- 

 tant source of the trouble ; literally, " to shut up the wolf in the sheep- 

 fold." When the offending agents have been expelled in this way, 

 carminatives and demulcent agents may be given — 1 dram of anise 

 water, 1 dram nitrate of bismuth, and 1 dram of gum arable, three 

 times a day. Under such course the consistency of the stools should 

 increase until in a day or two they become natural. 



If, however, the outbreak is more general and evidently the result 

 of contagion, the first consideration is to remove all sources of such 

 contamination. Test the milk of the cow with blue litmus paper; 

 if it reddens, reject the milk until by sound, dry feeding, with per- 

 haps a course of hyposulphite of soda and gentian root, the milk is 

 made alkaline. The castor oil or magnesia will be demanded to clear 

 away the (now infecting) irritants, but they should be combined with 

 antiseptics, and, while the limewater and the carminative mixture 

 may still be used, a most valuable addition will be found in the 



