84 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



diicirig obstniction. Such obstructions are shown by loss of power 

 in the muscles supplied by the obstructed artery and by excitation 

 of the heart and respiration after exercise. The loss of power may 

 not come into evidence until after exercise. 



Symptoms. — ^liile standing still or when walking slowly the ani- 

 mal may appear to be normal, but after more active exercise a group 

 of muscles, a leg, or both hind legs, may be handled with difficulty, 

 causing lameness, and later there is practically a local paralysis. 

 These symptoms disappear with rest. In some cases the collateral 

 circulation develops in time, so that the parts receive sufficient blood 

 and the symptoms disappear. 



INFLAMMATION OF VEINS (PHLEBITIS), 



When bleeding is performed without proper care or with unclean 

 fleam or lancet, inflammation of the vein may result, or it may be 

 caused by the animal rubbing the wound against some object. When 

 inflammation follows the operation, the coats of the vein become 

 enlarged ; so much so that the vessel may be felt hard and knotted 

 beneath the skin, and when pressed on pain is evinced. A thin, 

 watery discharge, tinged with blood, issues from the wound. When 

 the pin is taken out it is found that the wound has not healed. The 

 blood becomes coagulated in the vessel. In inflammation of the 

 jugular the coagulation extends from the wound upward to the first 

 large branch. Abscesses may form along the course of the vein. 

 The inflanunation is followed by obliteration of that part in which 

 coagulation exists. This is of small import, as cattle have an acces- 

 sory jugidar vein which gi'adually enlarges and accommodates itself 

 to the increased quantity of blood it must carry. 



Treatment. — The treatment for inflammation of the vein is to clip 

 the hair from along the course of the affected vessel and apply a 

 blister, the cerate of cantharides. Abscesses should be opened as 

 soon as they form, because there is a possibility of the pus getting 

 into the circulation. 



In the operation of bleeding the instruments should be clean and 

 free from rust. If the skin is not sufficiently opened, or when closing 

 the wound the skin is drawn out too much, blood may accumulate in 

 the tissue, and if it does it should be removed by pressing absorbent 

 cotton or a sponge on the part. Care should also be used in opening 

 the vein, so that the instrument does not jjass entirely through both 

 sides of the vein and open the artery beneath it. (See " Bleeding, 

 p. 300.) 



