218 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SCIENCE 



slaughter does not imply any great sacrifice, but in other in- 

 fectious maladies which ordinarily end in recovery, segregation 

 would in most outbreaks be substituted. Fortunately for the 

 owner of live stock, the state and nation have provided for 

 reimbursement of animals slaughtered by the live stock sanitary 

 authorities. In some states the full appraised value is allowed; 

 in nearly all a reasonable allowance is made. This method is 

 most effective when a rigid quarantine is enforced at the same 

 time. As a means of coping with foot-and-mouth disease and 

 other epizootics in the United States and Canada, it has been 

 used very successfully. 



THE TREATMENT OF DISEASE 



Treatment consists in removing the cause of disease and in 

 supporting nature in her endeavor to combat the malady. The 

 science and art of healing is termed therapeutics. It deals with 

 all the curative forces employed in the treatment of disease. 



The first questions to be considered in outlining a course of 

 treatment are: Can the disease be left to nature's care? Is 

 medicinal treatment needed or desirable? Is surgical treatment 

 indicated? If we decide to lend aid, then we must determine 

 when to help and when to hinder nature's curative processes. 

 How to help without doing harm is a question of prime impor- 

 tance, which must be answered before treatment is begun. It 

 always calls for mature judgment. 



In general, it may be said that treatment must be instituted 

 early in the course of a disease — that is, before the pathologic 

 changes have become marked and the natural processes inhibited 

 — if the best results are to be expected from it. Furthermore, the 

 animal should be placed under the most favorable conditions 

 for recovery and the medicines selected should be of accurate 

 strength, proper dose, best quality and pushed to the desired 

 effect, with all adjuvant treatment that it is possible to" supply. 



A careful study of the causes of disease and the symptoms 

 exhibited by the patient, as previously explained, should give 

 the stockman a basis upon which to work, and indicate to him 

 the best method to pursue to remove the exact cause of trouble, 

 without which only imperfect results from any line of treatment 

 should be anticipated. It should be remembered that the body 

 itself contains or manufactures the substances necessary to 



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