RURAL VETERINARY SECRETS 227 



DISEASES OF YOUNG STOCK 



CONSTIPATION is a common trouble in foals the first few 

 days after birth. The food of the dam just previous to delivery not 

 having been of a laxative nature, or the first milk (colostrum) not 

 being taken by the foal, will thus account for this trouble in the major- 

 ity of cases. Calves, lambs, and pigs are rarely troubled as they usu- 

 ally get the first milk. The signs of this trouble are straining, rolling, 

 lying on the back, collicky symptoms, the belly tucked up; the foal 

 sucking in a half-hearted way and the non-passage of feces are also 

 reliable indications. The preferable way to overcome the trouble is to 

 diet the dam, changing to food of a more laxative nature, e. g., bran 

 mashes with flax-seed, as the use of purgatives on a foal of such a 

 tender age is extremely dangerous. The finger may be oiled and intro- 

 duced into the rectum, the contents of a dark, tarry ball-like nature 

 removed ; or a cone of soap may be placed in rectum and left there. 

 The injection of one-half ounce of glycerine or two ounces of raw 

 linseed oil in two or three ounces of water is very useful and may be 

 used in preference to the soap or oiled finger. Lambs should be 

 watched their first two weeks of life as the feces tend to stick to the 

 wool around the anus and thus form an obstacle to the passage of the 

 dung. 



SCOURS (or Diarrhoea) is as a rule more or less serious, the 

 contagious form in calves, terms calf cholera or dysentery, being espe- 

 cially so. The common cause of Scours is the food, either as to its 

 qualit}^ quantity, or regularity in giving it. In foals the disease is often 

 due to the use of purgatives to overcome the preceding trouble (con- 

 stipation) ; the drinking of warm, stale milk, the mare being worked 

 and the foal only allowed to suck at long intervals ; too rich or too 

 much milk. We may then consider scours in any animal a symptom of 

 indigestion, not as a disease in itself ; the looseness of the bowels being 

 one evidence of Nature's endeavor to overcome the trouble. In calves 

 especially scouring is due to overfeeding, or feeding at too long inter- 

 vals, and the use of milk of a poor quality. Lambs sometimes scour 

 if the ewes are on pastures of a watery nature, green oats, etc. The 

 disease is soon evidenced by colicky pains, refusal of food, scour smell- 

 ing passages, the passage of watery feces with rapid loss of strength. 

 In some cases curdled milk is mixed with the dung. 



The causes being known, the first thing in the treatment is to re- 



