DISEASES AND ABNORMALITIES. 153 
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 contajn- 
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—diarrhcea—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. Diarrhcea soon 
