ACUTE GASTRO-INTESTINAL CATARRH OF THE OX. 97 



are hot or cold, depending upon the movements of the animal ; the 

 muzzle is hot and dry. The respiration, which is accelerated at the 

 beginning, becomes extremely painful and short. When acute 

 catarrh assumes this grave form, it often becomes transformed into 

 acute gastro-enteritis, terminating in death. There are also cases 

 where it becomes milder and passes into a chronic state. 



Differential diagnosis. When the symptoms of the disease 

 are well defined, we can make a diagnosis by a careful examination 

 of the animals. The course and duration of the disease are to be 

 taken into consideration. It is difficult to accurately decide the 

 portion of the gastro-intestinal canal which is especially affected ; 

 but to determine the localization of catarrh is not of great impor- 

 tance, for, in almost all cases, the inflammation rapidly extends to 

 the annexes of the parts primarily attacked. 



The accumulation of gas in the rumen may cause us to confound 

 catarrh with meteorism, but in catarrh the tympanism is never so 

 great as in common meteorism, and its periodic character will 

 always allow us to recognize it. The possibility of the existence 

 of a gastro-enteritis must be admitted when the symptoms denote 

 an intense morbid process ; the precise diagnosis in cases of this 

 kind, however, is extremely difficult. 



Prognosis. When the established symptoms are those of simple 

 catarrh, the cure is almost certain. According to a table compiled 

 by Hering, in 128 cases of "indigestion,'' killing was advised but 

 five times, and even then without any absolute necessity of resorting 

 to such extreme means. We must, however, always be careful in 

 making a prognosis ; as already stated, the disease may pass into a 

 chronic state or may be complicated with gastro-enteritis. 



Pathological anatomy. We rarely have occasion to make an 

 autopsy on animals dead from gastro-intestinal catarrh ; and accord- 

 ingly our knowledge concerning the pathological anatomy is still very 

 restricted. Harms has found the mucous membranes thickened, 

 uniformly red or spotted, striped ; those of the true stomach and 

 intestine were covered with an exudate rich in cells. The altera- 

 tions due to the catarrh are especially remarkable in those parts of 

 the intestines where the mucous membrane possesses large villi. In 

 the third and second stomachs the lesions are ordinarily limited to 

 certain lamellae. The contents of the third stomach are sometimes 

 much dried up and form blades, the central part of which is of a 

 calcareous consistence. 



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