474 Veterinary Medicine. 



I/homme attribute much to bad hygiene, and especially to poor or 

 spoiled fodders. I/honirae, I,afosse and Trasbot find accessory 

 causes in cold and wet weather. Retention of the meconium is 

 another cause. Dieckerhoff, Hartmann, Cadeac and Bournay 

 trace the disease to bacterial infection as the essential cause. 

 Many cases originate in septic infection and inflammation of the 

 navel and umbilical veins. Others commence with mucous ga.stro- 

 enteritis, attended by diarrhoea or dysentery. In other cases the 

 germs appear to have reached the liver througli the circulation as 

 the animal is already affected at birth. 



Symptoms. When not congenital, symptoms are usually seen 

 in the first few days of life, usually before the fifth day. 



In congenital cases the new born animal is unable to stand at 

 all or for longer than a very short time, it lies listlessly and makes 

 no attempt to suck even when held up to the teat. There is ac- 

 celeration of pulse and re.spiratiou, the heart beats are tumultuous, 

 the mouth is dry, the mucosae of a straw yellow, the bowels are 

 co.stive, and the urine, whether discharged in life, or found in the 

 bladder after death, is bloody. 



When attacked later, the animal becomes dull, weak, and 

 stupid, refuses the teat, and has the bowels relaxed. The 

 mucosae become pale yellow, the breathing accelerated, the heart 

 beats violent, and the pulse rapid, small and weak. The urine is 

 passed slowly and with effort and has a red hue more or less deep 

 according to the .severity of the attack. Colics are not uncom- 

 mon, causing uneasy shifting of the limbs and tail, cries, frequent 

 lying down and rising, and partial or general perspiration. Com- 

 plications on the part of the navel and umbilical veins are to be 

 looked for, in open sores, swellings, abscess, phlebitis, and in 

 arthritis and secondary abscesses in different organs. Death may 

 occur quietly, as from exhaustion, while in other cases it is 

 preceded by convulsions. 



In case of recovery, there is an improvement of the general 

 symptoms, the heart and respirations become moderate, appetite 

 is restored, the little animal sucking the teat, there are abundant, 

 yellow, semi-solid defecations, the strength increases day by day, 

 and convalescence may be fully established by the twelfth to the 

 fifteenth day. 



Diagnosis. This is mainly based on the extreme weakness 



