AN EPITOME OF MODERN TREATMENT OF DISEASES OF 

 THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



For details concerning the use of drugs or measures recommended in this section 

 the reader is referred to the text of this book. 



Abortion. 



1. Accidental, all animals. To prevent, give opium ; rest, laxative diet. 



2. Contagious in cows and ewes. Consider all abortions in cows con- 

 tagious. One in five have latent or active infection. Infection probably 

 enters through teat in adults and is situated in udder of non-pregnant, and 

 in womb and vaginal discharge of pregnant cows, but B. abortus disappears 

 from uterus soon after parturition. Or germs enter cow through food and 

 attack fetus in utero through blood. Young may be infected by milk, or in 

 utero, but infection does not last long. Bull conveys organisms mechanically 

 not by semen. There are many healthy carriers never showing signs of 

 disease. 



Symptoms: Abortions, retained afterbirth, sterility, nymphomania and 

 mastitis in cows; while B. abortus causes in calves through milk white 

 scours, infectious arthritis and pneumonia. 



To prevent: Injections of living B. abortus in cows 2 months before 

 breeding cause immunity for 2 years (.') and without danger of spreading 

 disease. All animals examined by agglutination test before putting 

 them into the herd. Segregate reactors. Aborting animals isolated till 

 vaginal discharge ceases. Test bull before service; also cut hair from sheath 

 and penis and latter douched with fountain syringe and horse catheter with 

 % per cent, lysol before and after service. Douching vagina with lysol 

 solution 3 times weekly a month before parturition may avert calf pneumonia 

 and white scours. 



^etus, afterbirth and discharge from aborting animal should be burned, 

 and uterus douched daily with % per cent, lysol as long as os remains patent 

 and the discharge continues. JExternal parts bathed with 1 per cent, lysol 

 solution. After abortion, do not breed for two months or till discharge 

 stops. Separate attendants for infected animals. Disinfect premises at 

 stated intervals (HCl, 1 part; NaCl, 8 parts; and water 100, best disin- 

 fectant solution for stable to kill B. abortus). Disease tends to die out if no 

 new infected animals admitted to a herd. Internal antiseptics, phenol or 

 methylene blue, are not of any value. Most prevalent of all bovine dis- 

 orders. Wash and dry new-born calf. Sterilize stump of cord with tincture 

 of iodine and dust with boric acid, 3 parts, salicylic acid, 1 part. Absolute 

 cleanliness of hind quarters of infected cow prevents mastitis and white 

 scours of calf. Milk should first be boiled if fed to calf. Give calf raw 

 whole milk of mother or healthy cow first 8 days. 



Vaginal douches best given with horse stomach tube attached to bottom of 

 12 quart galvanized iron pail. The intradermic injection of abortin (washed, 

 killed abortus bacilli) will determine infection in a hetd although unreliable 

 in individuals. 



Some cases show absence of B. abortus and presence of Spirillum (T. 

 Smith). Either may cause disease. 



Animals which have aborted may be fattened for market. 



Abscess. 



To abort, paint with tincture of iodine; or inject 10 or more m. of 2 per 

 cent, carbolic acid solution; poultices, fiy blister, open with knife or actual 

 cautery under ethylchloride spray, and cocaine. After opening, inject anti- 

 septics, as hydrogen dioxide, and iodoform with vaseline or glycerin. To aid 

 resolution, a blister of cantharides, vaccines. 



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