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RURAL YETERINARY ^ECRETti 



COW POX 



This is a form of contagious inflammation of the udder which 

 does not spread readily from animal to animal, except by the hands 

 of the milker. It is said to occur spontaneously in the cow, but 

 this is altogether improbable. It is not uncommon in the horse, 

 attacking the heels, the lips, or some other inoculated part of the 

 body and is then easily transferred to the cow if the same man 

 grooms and dresses the horse and milks the cow. It may also ap- 

 pear in the cow by infection, more or less direct from a person who 

 has been successfully vaccinated. IVlany believe that it is only a 



A typical case of cow-pox. — Photo by author. 



form of the smallpox of man, modified by passing through the sys- 

 tem of the cow. 



SYMPTOIVIS 



The disease in the cow is ushered in by a sliglu fever, which, 

 however, is usually overlooked and the first sign is tenderness of 

 the teats. Examined, these may be redder and hotter than nor- 

 mal and at the end of two days there appear little nodules like small 

 peas, of a pale red color and increasing so that they may measure 

 three-fourths of an inch to one inch in diameter by the seventh day. 

 The yield of milk diminishes and when heated it coagulates slightly. 

 From the seventh to the tenth day the eruption forms into a blister 

 with a depression in the center and raised margins, from which the 



