DISEASES CONNECTED WITH PEED 309 



Birds readily succumb to ptomain-poisoning after eating 

 rotten meat. Birds have been known to suffer from ptomain- 

 poisoning after eating putrid canned corn. 



While the intestinal flora or bacteria which live in the diges- 

 tive tract is somewhat similar to that of higher animals, yet 

 they do not apparently suffer to any great extent with fermen- 

 tation of the undigested food and with tympany. The carcass 

 of a horse, cow, dog, or hog, in many instances, and especially 

 in cases in digestive derangements, soon "bloat" to enormous 

 size. This bloating does not readily take place in dead fowl, 

 if at all. There appears to be no fermentative trouble from 

 digestive contents in dressed carcasses of fowl. Fermenta- 

 tion and putrefaction is indeed slow, though it cannot be dis- 

 puted that if the carcass be kept under the proper temperature 

 the germs or bacteria from the intestinal tract grow by ex- 

 tension through the intestinal wall, and ultimately contribute 

 to degenerative changes as well as products given off by them 

 in solution spreading by diffusion. This change, however, 

 is slow if the carcasses be kept at a cool temperature (below 

 40° F.). 



In studying feeds and digestion, we take under consideration 

 the possible alteration in quantity, conditions of quahtj^, and 

 conditions of digestibihty. 



An excess of certain kinds of food, without sufficient exercise, 

 may lead to a physiologic deposition of fat, especially in the 

 abdominal cavity, which may interfere from two standpoints 

 — namely, egg production and as breeders, affecting fertility 

 and vitahty of the progeny. As a pathologic result it may 

 produce a febrile condition with blood and liver derangements, 

 especially when the excess is protein. 



Spoiled feed may be* of such a nature as to cause diarrhea 

 by acting as an irritant to the intestinal mucosa. The diarrhea 

 is a natural result of nature, the intestinal canal trying to rid 

 itself of the objectionable material. 



When feed is kept for a considerable length of time and under 

 certain conditions it may be attacked by vegetable and animal 

 organisms. Thus, mash, bran, middUngs, and shorts kept 

 in too damp a quarter are readily attacked by molds and sapro- 

 phitic bacteria of decay, and the feed soon becomes bitter and 



