DISEASES OE YOUNG CALVES. 



By James Law, F. R. C. V. 8., 

 Professor of Veterinary Science, etc. , in Cornell University. 



SUSPENDED BREATHING. 



The moment the circulation through the navel string is stopped the 

 blood of the calf begins to get overcharged with carbon dioxid (0O 2 ), 

 and unless breathing is speedily established death promptly follows. 

 Fortunately the desire to breathe, roused by the circulation of the 

 venous blood and the reflex action from the wet and chilling skin, 

 usually at once starts the contractions of the diaphragm and life is 

 insured. Among the obstacles to breathing may be named suffoca- 

 tion before or during birth from compression of the navel cord and 

 the arrest of its circulation ; the detachment of the fetal membranes 

 from the womb before the calf is born; a too free communication 

 between the two auricles of the heart (foramen ovale) by which the 

 nonaerated blood has mixed too abundantly with the aerated and 

 induced debility and profound weakness; a condition of ill health 

 and debility of the calf as a result of semistarvation, overwork, or 

 disease of the cow; fainting in such debilitated calf when calving has 

 been difficult and prolonged; the birth of the calf with its head envel- 

 oped in the fetal membranes, so that it has been unable to breathe, 

 and the presence of tenacious phlegm in the mouth and nose, acting 

 in the same manner. 



Besides the importance of proper care and feeding of the cow as a 

 preventive measure, attention should be given at once to relieve the 

 newborn calf of its investing membrane and of any mucus that has 

 collected in mouth or nostrils. Wiping out the nose deeply with a 

 finger or feather excites to sneezing, hence to breathing. Blowing 

 into the nose has a similar effect. Sucking the nostril through a tube 

 applied to it is even more effective. Slapping the chest with the palm 

 of the hand or with a towel dipped in cold water, compression and 

 relaxation alternately of the walls of the chest, may start the action, 

 and ammonia or even tobacco smoke blown into the nose may suffice. 

 Every second is precious, however, and if possible the lungs should 

 be dilated by forcibly introducing air from a bellows or from the 

 human lungs. As the air is blown in through bellows or a tube the 

 upper end of the windpipe must be pressed back against the gullet, 

 as otherwise the air will go to the stomach. In a large dairy a piece 

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