CHAPTER IV. 

 DEPRAVED APPETITE^PICA— THE LICKING HABIT. 



Depeaved appetite, causing animals to swallow bodies which cannot 

 properly be described as food, is frequent. The condition is commonest 

 in adult animals of the bovine species, in calves and in lambs. The 

 consequences are sometimes very serious, so that although depraved 

 appetite does not represent a well-defined morbid entity, it is important 

 to be in a position to remedy it. 



Depraved appetite does not appear under the same conditions in 

 young and in old animals. In adults it often results from faulty 

 feeding, or from some wasting disease which develops insidiously, or 

 remains unrecognised ; in young animals it is the result of insufficient 

 nourishment. 



Eoloff & EoU hold that pica is the first symptom of osteomalacia 

 (which see). 



DEPRAVED APPETITE IN THE OX. 



Causation. In the bovine species depraved appetite occurs in adult, 

 debilitated animals, which are often, though not always, suffering from 

 some well-marked digestive disturbance. 



The frequency of this symptom, and the peculiarities in its occur- 

 rence, have caused it to be referred to a large number of different causes, 

 among which may be mentioned bad hygiene, chronic gastro-enteritis, 

 tuberculosis, osseous cachexia, pasteurellosis, gestation, etc. 



It is very certain that the peculiarity in the appetite is, above all, the 

 result of incomplete and irrational alimentation. The animal has certain 

 special requirements, to meet which the food must be of suitable compo- 

 sition. If these alimentary and digestive conditions are not fulfilled, 

 depraved appetite may occur, even in animals which appear well 

 nourished. Certain authors refer the appearance of this condition to 

 want of certain soda salts in the daily ration, and, in support of this 

 opinion, they point to the frequency of the disease in mountainous 

 regions where the geological formation is chiefly granite, as in the Black 

 Forest. Alluvial soils are supposed not to produce it. It certainly seems 

 more common on soils lacking in certain constituents or exhausted by 



