DISEASES AND ABNORMALITIES. 155 



3. Colds (cold or damp stables, draughts, and cold 

 udder of the mother). 



4. Retention of intestinal mucus of the foetus 

 (meconium), when the first milk (colostrum) is not used, 

 the result of which will be constipation and a decom- 

 position of the contents of the stomach, the products 

 of which irritate the mucous membrane. 



Among the circumstances capable of determining 

 catarrh in weaned animals, we must especially point 

 out : 



1. Weaning when taking place under unfavorable 

 conditions. 



2. Substitutes for milk, particularly those contain- 

 ing starch. 



3. Cold and damp weather; also cold drinks, 



4. Intestinal parasites. 



The predisposing causes are : hereditary weakness 

 of the digestive apparatus, affections of the mesenteric 

 ganglion, etc., and also extreme sensibility of the diges- 

 tive organs in very young animals. 



Symptoms. — At the commencement of the disease the 

 symptoms vary with the cause. Sometimes they appear 

 suddenly, at other times gradually, and fail to attract 

 attention for the first few days. In sucklings, the 

 principal symptom^^-diarrhoea — is usually preceded by 

 slight anorexia, some depression and weakness; in 

 weaned animals (when the disease is induced by the 

 ingestion of very cold water, or external cold), it 

 commences with fever and general troubles; body 

 temperature irregularly distributed ; pronounced nervous 

 depression, both sensory and motor. Diarrhoea soon 



