DISEASES AND TREATMENT OF CATTLE 
359 
For after-treatment feed light food, give lukewarm water 
to drink and principally mashes to eat for a few days, so as 
to allow the stomach to have a rest. When very much 
bloated and in danger of its life, perform the operation of 
tapping. 
Tapping. — Cut a small hole in the skin on the left side 
midway between the point of the hip bone and the last rib, 
and about four inches down from the back bone. After the 
hole is cut in the skin take a trocar and cannula and run 
them downward and inward, pull out the trocar and leave 
the cannula in. This allows the gas to come spouting out 
of the cannula. Leave the cannula in for an hour or so until 
the bloating has disappeared, then pull it out and allow the 
hole to heal of its own accord. 
A trocar and cannula is a very useful outfit to have on 
hand and may be the means of saving many times its price 
in cases of emergency. See appended announcement. 
Should the instrument not be on hand use a penknife, 
inserting it at the same point as that indicated for using the 
cannula. 
9. Impaction of the Rumen, or Paunch, With Food. 
Impaction is a condition in which the rumen, or paunch, 
becomes so full of food that it is unable to force it along its 
natural course. 
Causes. — Feeding poor food, straw and such like. (The 
animal takes a large feed, and the walls of the stomach being 
weak are unable to force the food forward in its natural 
course.) A large feed of over-ripe grass, getting loose and 
getting a large feed of any kind of food that the animal is 
not used to, and feeding fattening cattle too heavily are 
among the causes most frequently met with. 
Symptoms. — In some cases the animal is slightly bloated, 
while in other cases there is no bloating at all. He seems 
uneasy, and makes a peculiar grunt or groan nearly every 
time he breathes. If a cow, and milking, the flow of milk 
falls away in one night. The nose is dry. The breathing 
and pulse are quicker than natural, and the animal gets up 
and down once in a while, and does not take much food or 
water. Press on the left side, over the paunch, or rumen. 
It is hard and full of food. The dent made with the finger 
remains for some time. Tap with the finger over the stomach. 
