232 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



board or end of a nail in the floor, with sudden and extreme change! 

 of weather, with overfeeding on rich albuminous food like cotton seed 

 beans, or pease, with indigestions, with sores on the teats, or with insuf 

 flcient stripping of the udder in milking. In the period of full mill 

 the organ is so susceptible that any serious disturbance of the genera 

 health is liable to fall upon the udder. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms and mode of onset vary in differen 

 cases. When following exposure there is usually a violent shiverinj 

 fit, with cold horns, ears, tail, and limbs, and general erection of th< 

 hair. This is succeeded by a flush of heat (reaction) in which th< 

 horns, ears, and limbs become unnaturally warm and the gland swelli 

 up and becomes firm and solid in one, two, three, or all four quarters 

 There is hot, dry muzzle, elevated temperature, full, accelerated pulse 

 and excited breathing, impaired or suspended appetite, and rumina 

 tion with more or less costiveness, suppression of urine, and a lessenec 

 yield of milk, which may be entirely suppressed in the affeetec 

 quarter. 



In other cases the shivering escapes notice, the general disorder o: 

 the system is little marked or comes on late, and the first observec 

 sign of illness is the firm swelling, heat, and tenderness of the bag 

 As the inflammation increases and extends, the hot, tender udde: 

 causes the animal to straddle with its hind limbs, and when walking 

 to halt on the limb on that side. If the cow lies down it is on thi 

 unaffected side. With the increase in intensity and the extension o 

 the inflammation the general fever manifests itself more prominently 

 In some instances the connective tissue beneath the skin and be 

 tween the lobules of the gland is affected, and then the swelling ii 

 uniformly rounded and of nearly the same consistency, pitting every 

 where on pressure. In other cases it primarily attacks the secreting 

 tissue of the gland, and then the swelling is more localized an( 

 appears as hard, nodular masses in the interior of the gland. Thi 

 last is the usual form of inflammation occurring from infection enter 

 ing by the teats. 



In all cases, but especially in the last-named form, the milk is sup 

 pressed and replaced by a watery fluid colored with blood (sometime 

 deeply) and mingled with masses of clotted casein. Later it become 

 white and purulent, and in many cases of an offensive odor. 



The course of the disease is sometimes so rapid and at others si 

 slow that no definite rule can be laid down. In two or three days, o 

 from that to the end of the week, the bag may soften, lose its heat an< 

 tenderness, and subside into the healthy condition, even resuming th 

 secretion of milk. The longer the inflammatory hardness continue 

 the greater the probability that its complete restoration will not b 

 effected. When a portion of the gland fails to be restored in thi 

 way, and has its secretion arrested, it usually shrinks to a smalle 

 size. More commonly a greater amount of the inflammatory produc 



