Ruminitis. Inflammation of the Rumen. 115 



which are swallowed while very hot or in a frozen state, and 

 foreign bodies of an irritating kind are especially liable to induce 

 it. Congestions of the paunch are not uncommon in specific in- 

 fectious diseases like Rinderpest, malignant catarrh, anthrax, 

 and Texas fever, and specific eruptions sometimes appear in 

 aphthous fever and sheep-pox. 



Symptoms. Rumination is slow and irregular, appetite capri- 

 cious, tympanies appear after each feed, and there is a marked 

 tendency to aggregation of the ingesta in solid masses, which 

 resist the disintegration and floating which is necessary to rumina- 

 tion, and favor the occurrence of putrid fermentation. There is 

 usually a tendency to lick earth, lime from the walls, and the 

 manger, and a depraved appetite shown in a desire to chew and 

 swallow foreign bodies of many kinds. Vomiting or convulsive 

 rejection of the contents of the rumen is not unknown (Vives, 

 Pattaes) . There is slight fever with heat of the horns and ears, 

 dry muzzle, and tenderness to pressure on the left flank. The 

 bowels may be alternately relaxed and confined, and bad cases 

 may end in a fatal diarrhoea. In other cases the disease may be- 

 come acute and develop nervous symptoms, as in tympany and 

 impaction. When the disease takes a favorable turn, under a 

 careful ration, recovery may be complete in eight or ten days. 



Lesions. These are violet or brownish patches of hyperaemia 

 on the mucosa of the rumen, circumscribed ecchymoses, exudates 

 in the sense of false membranes and even pin's head ulcerations. 

 On the affected portions the mucosa is swollen, puffy, dull and 

 covered with mucus, and epithelium may desquamate. The 

 papillae are often red, and thickened or shrunken and shortened. 

 In the specific affections like aphthous fever and sheep-pox the 

 lesions are rounded vesicles containing liquid. The ingesta is 

 more or less packed in masses. 



Treatment. If irritant foreign bodies have been taken rumen- 

 otomy is demanded. If caustic alkalies, acetic or other mild acid. 

 If acids, lime water or magnesia. Feed well-boiled flax seed, or 

 farina gruels, and wheat bran or middlings in limited quantity. 

 Solids may be at first withheld, coarse or indigestible food must 

 be. It may be necessary to rouse the organ by 10 or 12 ozs. of 

 sulphate of soda with a little common salt and abundance of thin 

 gruels as drink. As a tonic the animal may take nitrate of 



