The necessary precautions may be summarized as follows:
(1) Provide an elastic rubber ball and tubes furnished with valves to direct the current of air, as in a common Davidson syringe.
(2) Fill the delivery tube for a short distance with cotton sterilized by prolonged heating in a water bath.
(3) In the free end of the delivery tube fit a milking tube to be inserted into the teat.
(4) Sterilize the entire apparatus by boiling for 30 minutes, and, without touching the milking tube, wrap it in a towel that has been sterilized in a water bath or in live steam and dried.
(5) Avoid drawing any milk from the teats; wash them and the udder thoroughly with warm soapsuds; rinse off with well-boiled and cooled water, and apply to the teats, and especially to their tips, a 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid or lysol, taking care that the teats are not allowed to touch any other body from the time they are cleansed until the teat tube is inserted. It is well to rest the cleansed and disinfected udder on a sterilized pad of cotton or a boiled towel.
(6) The injecting apparatus is unwrapped; the teat tube, seized by its attached end and kept from contact with any other body, is inserted into the teat, while an assistant working the rubber pump fills the quarter as full as it will hold. The tube is now withdrawn and a broad tape is tied around the free end of the teat to prevent escape of the air.
(7) The teat tube, which has been carefully preserved from possible contact with other bodies, is dipped in the carbolic acid solution and inserted in a second teat, and the second quarter is inflated, and so with the third and fourth.
(8) The recumbent cow is kept resting on her breastbone, with the head elevated, even if it should be necessary to pack around her with straw bundles or to suspend the head by a halter. When lying on her side she is liable to develop fatal bloating and to have belching of gas and liquids, which, passing down the windpipe, cause fatal broncho-pneumonia.
(9) If in 2 hours the cow is not on her feet, if there is no brighter or more intelligent expression, if she has passed no manure or urine, and if the air has become absorbed, leaving the udder less tense, the injection of the bag may be repeated, under the same scrupulous and rigid precautions as at first. In all cases, but especially in severe ones, it is well to keep watch of the patient, and to repeat the distention on the first indication of relapse. Should there not be a free discharge of feces and urine after rising, indicating a natural resumption of the nervous functions, the case should be all the more carefully watched, so that the treatment may be repeated if necessary.
Accessory treatment may still be used, but is rarely necessary. A dose of purgative medicine (1½ pounds of Epsom salt) in warm water may be given in the early stages, while as yet there is no danger of its passing into the lungs through paralysis of the throat. Eserin or pilocarpin (1½ grains) may be given under the skin to stimulate the movements of the bowels. Sponging the skin, and especially the udder, with cool water, may be resorted to in hot weather.
Bloating may demand puncture of the paunch, in the left flank, with a cannula and trocar, the evacuation of the gas, and the introduction through the tube of a tablespoonful of strong liquid ammonia in a quart of cold water or other antiferment.
The economic value of the new treatment of milk fever is enormous. The United States has more than 22,000,000 milk cows. If we could raise their quality by preserving and breeding from the largest producers of both milk and butterfat, in place of losing the best by milk fever, as in the past, and if we could thus obtain an average increase of 2 quarts a day, the proceeds at 3 cents a quart would amount to $130,000,000 a year.
This consists in a more or less complete loss of control of the hind limbs occurring after calving, and caused by low condition, weakness, and exposure to cold or to injurious compression of the nerves of the hind limbs by a large calf passing through the pelvis. Its symptoms do not differ from those of palsy of the hind limbs, occurring at other times, and it may be treated in the same way, except so far as bruises of the vagina may demand special smoothing treatment.
In heavy milkers, before and just after calving, it is the rule that the mammary gland is enlarged, hot, tense, and tender, and that a slight exudation or pasty swelling extends forward from the gland on the lower surface of the abdomen. This physiological congestion is looked upon as a matter of course, and disappears in two or three days when the secretion of milk has been fully established. Thisbreaking up of the bag may be greatly hastened by the sucking of a hungry calf and the kneading it gives the udder with its nose, by stripping the glands clean thrice daily, and by active rubbing at each milking with the palm of the hand, with or without lard or, better, with camphorated ointment.
The congestion may be at times aggravated by standing in a draft of cold air or by neglect to milk for an entire day or more (overstocking, hefting) with the view of making a great show of udder for purposes of sale. In such cases the surface of the bag pits on pressure, and the milk has a reddish tinge or even streaks of blood, or it is partially or fully clotted and is drawn with difficulty, mixed, it may be, with a yellowish serum (whey) which has separated from the casein. This should be treated like the above, though it may sometimes demand fomentations with warm water to ward off inflammation, and it may be a week before the natural condition of the gland is restored.
Congestion may merge into active inflammation, or it may arise direct, in connection with exposure to cold or wet, with standing in a cold draft, with blows on the udder with clubs, stones, horns, or feet, with injury from a sharp or cold stone, or the projecting edge of a board or end of a nail in the floor, with sudden and extreme changes of weather, with overfeeding on rich albuminous feed like cotton seed, beans, or peas, with indigestions, with sores on the teats, or with insufficient stripping of the udder in milking. In the period of full milk the organ is so susceptible that any serious disturbance of the general health is liable to fall upon the udder.
Symptoms.—The symptoms and mode of onset vary in different cases. When following exposure there is usually a violent shivering fit, with cold horns, ears, tail, and limbs, and general erection of the hair. This is succeeded by a flush of heat (reaction) in which the horns, ears, and limbs become unnaturally warm and the gland swells up and becomes firm and solid in one, two, three, or all four quarters. There is hot dry muzzle, elevated temperature, full, accelerated pulse, and excited breathing, impaired or suspended appetite and rumination, with more or less costiveness, suppression of urine, and a lessened yield of milk, which may be entirely suppressed in the affected quarter.
In other cases the shivering escapes notice, the general disorder of the system is little marked or comes on late, and the first observed sign of illness is the firm swelling, heat, and tenderness of the bag. As the inflammation increases and extends, the hot, tender udder causes the animal to straddle with its hind limbs, and, when walking, to halt on the limb on that side. If the cow lies down it is on theunaffected side. With the increase in intensity and the extension of the inflammation the general fever manifests itself more prominently. In some instances the connective tissue beneath the skin and between the lobules of the gland is affected, then the swelling is uniformly rounded and of nearly the same consistency, pitting everywhere on pressure. In other cases it primarily attacks the secreting tissue of the gland, then the swelling is more localized and appears as hard, nodular masses in the interior of the gland. This last is the usual form of inflammation occurring from infection entering by the teats.
In all cases, but especially in the last-named form, the milk is suppressed and replaced by a watery fluid colored with blood (sometimes deeply) and mingled with masses of clotted casein. Later it becomes white and purulent, and in many cases of an offensive odor.
The course of the disease is sometimes so rapid and at others so slow that no definite rule can be laid down. In two or three days, or from that to the end of the week, the bag may soften, lose its heat and tenderness, and subside into the healthy condition, even resuming the secretion of milk. The longer the inflammatory hardness continues the greater the probability that its complete restoration will not be effected. When a portion of the gland fails to be restored in this way, and has its secretion arrested, it usually shrinks to a smaller size. More commonly a greater quantity of the inflammatory product remains in the gland and develops into a solid, fibrous mass, causing permanent hardening (induration). In other cases, in place of the product of inflammation developing into a fibrous mass, it softens and breaks down into white, creamy, liquid pus (abscess). This abscess may make its way to the surface and escape externally, or it may burst into a milk duct and discharge through the teat. It may break into both and establish a channel for the escape of milk (fistula). In the worst types of the disease gangrene may ensue, a quarter or half or even the whole udder, losing its vitality, and sloughing off if the cow can bear up against the depressing influence. These gangrenous cases are probably always the result of infection and sometimes run a very rapidly fatal course. I remember one to which I was called as soon as the owner noticed it, yet I found one-quarter dark blue, cold, and showing a tendency to the formation of blebs containing a bloody secretion. The cow, which had waded through a depth of semiliquid manure to reach her stall, died within 24 hours.
Treatment.—Treatment varies with the type and the stage of the disease. If the case is seen in the shivering fit, every effort should be made to cut it short, as the inflammation may be thereby greatly moderated, if not checked. Copious drinks of warm water thrown in from horn or bottle; equally copious warm injections; the application of heat in some form to the surface of the body (by a rug wrungout of hot water; by hanging over the back and loins bags loosely filled with bran, sand, salt, chaff, or other agent previously heated in a stove; by the use of a flatiron or the warming of the surface by a hot-air bath), or by active friction with straw wisps by two or more persons; the administration of 1 ounce of ground ginger may serve to shorten the attack. After half an hour's sweat the animal should be rubbed and covered with a dry blanket.
If, on the other hand, there is little or no fever, and only a slight inflammation, rub well with camphorated ointment or a weak iodin ointment, and milk three, four, or six times a day, rubbing the bag thoroughly each time. Milking must be done with great gentleness, squeezing the teat in place of pulling and stripping it, and if this causes too much pain, the teat tube (Pl. XXIV, fig. 4) or the spring teat dilator (Pl. XXIV, fig. 3) may be employed. Antiseptic injections of the teats and udder are often useful, and iodoform in water has been especially recommended. It may be replaced by one of the injections advised for parturition fever, used with the same careful precautions.
In cases in which the fever has set in and the inflammation is more advanced, a dose of laxative medicine is desirable (Epsom salt, 1 to 2 pounds; ginger, 1 ounce), which may be followed, after the purging has ceased, by daily doses of saltpeter, 1 ounce. Many rely on cooling and astringent applications to the inflamed quarter (vinegar, sugar-of-lead lotion, cold water, ice, etc.), but a safer and better resort is continued fomentation with warm water. A bucket of warm water, replenished as it cools, may be set beneath the udder, and two persons can raise a rug cut of this and hold it against the udder, dipping it anew whenever the temperature is somewhat lowered. A sheet may be passed around the body, with holes cut for the teats, soft rags packed between it and the udder, and kept warm by pouring water on every 10 or 15 minutes, as warm as the hand can bear. When this has been kept up for an hour or two, the bag may be dried, well rubbed with soap, and left thus with a soapy coating. If the pain is great, extract of belladonna may be applied along with the soap, and a dry suspensory bandage with holes for the teats may be applied. Strong, mercurial ointment is very useful in relieving pain and softening the bag. This is especially valuable when the disease is protracted and induration threatens. It may be mixed with an equal quantity of soap and half as much extract of belladonna. In cases of threatened induration excellent results are sometimes obtained from a weak-induction current of electricity sent through the gland daily for 10 minutes.
Ifabscessthreatens, it may be favored by fomentation and opened as soon as fluctuation from finger to finger shows the formation ofmatter at a point formerly hard. The wound may bleed freely, and there is a risk of opening a milk duct, yet relief will be obtained; also a dressing twice daily with a lotion of carbolic acid 1 part, water 20 parts, and glycerin 1 part will suffice to keep the wound clean and healthy.
Gangreneof the affected part is often fatal. It demands antiseptics (chlorid of zinc, 1 dram to 1 quart water) applied frequently to the part, or, if the case can not be attended, smear the affected quarter with Venice turpentine, melted, or even wood tar. Antiseptic tonics (tincture of chlorid of iron, 4 drams) may also be given four times daily in a quart of water.
As stated in the last article, that form of inflammation of the udder which attacks the gland ducts and follicles, causing deep-seated, hard, nodular swellings, is often contagious. Franck has demonstrated this by injecting into the milk ducts in different cows (milking and dry) the pus from the bags of cows affected with mammitis, or the liquids of putrid flesh, or putrid blood, and in every case he produced acute inflammation of the gland tissue within twenty-four hours. He thinks that in ordinary conditions the septic germ gains access by propagating itself through the milk, filling the milk canal and oozing from the external orifice. He points to this as a reason why dry cows escape the malady, though mingling freely with the sufferers, and why such dry cows do not suffer from inflammation of the gland tissue when attacked with foot-and-mouth disease. In this last case it is evident that it is not simply the inoculation with the milker's hand that is lacking, for the skin of the bag is attacked, but not its secreting, glandular parts. Now that in any case of abscess we look for the cause in the chain forms of globular bacteria (Streptococcus pyogenes), in the cluster form of white, globular bacteria (Staphylococcus pyogenes albus), and in the golden and citron-yellow forms of clustered globular bacteria (Staphylococcus pyogenes aureusandStaphylococcus pyogenes citreus), the formation of pus gives presumptive evidence of the action of one or more of these germs. So in cases of mortification of the bag; in the very occurrence there is fair circumstantial evidence of the presence of erysipelas micrococcus or other germ which kills the local tissues. Again, in tuberculosis affecting the bag (a not uncommon condition), the active local cause is without doubt the tubercle bacillus.
It has been found that false membranes have formed in certain cases of mammitis in the cow, and Klein, after inoculating the diphtheria of man on the cow, found an ulcerous sore in the seat of inoculation and blisters on the teats and udder, in which he found whathe believed to be the bacillus of diphtheria. The results are doubtful, even in the absence of false membranes. Löffler, too, in the diphtheria of calves, found that the germ was longer and more delicate than that of man, and that its pathogenesis for rodents was less, guinea pigs having only a nonfatal abscess. The presence of false membranes in one form of mammitis in cows does not necessarily imply its communicability to man.
It has been asserted that scarlet fever has been transmitted from the cow to man, and it can not be denied that in many cases the infection has been spread by means of the milk. The facts, however, when brought out fully have shown that in almost every case the milk had first come into contact with a person suffering or recovering from scarlet fever, so that the milk was infected after it left the cow. The alleged exceptional cases at Hendon and Dover, England, are not conclusive. In the Hendon outbreak inoculations were made on calves from the slight eruption on the cow's teats, and they had a slight eruption on the lips and a form of inflammation of the kidneys, which Dr. Klein thought resembled that of scarlatina. The cows that had brought the disease to the Hendon dairies were traced back to Wiltshire, where cows were found suffering from a similar malady, but no sign of scarlet fever resulted. In the Dover outbreak the dairyman first denied any disease in his cows, and brought a certificate of a veterinarian to prove that they were sound at the time of the investigation; then later he confessed that the cows had had foot-and-mouth disease some time before, and consequent eruption on the teats. So the question remains whether the man who denied sickness in the cows to begin with, and adduced professional evidence of it, did not later acknowledge the foot-and-mouth disease as a blind to hide the real source of the trouble in scarlatina in his own family or in the family of an employee.
In America Dr. Stickler said that he had produced scarlatina in children by inoculation with imported virus of foot-and-mouth disease, but his contention is negatived by the facts that with foot-and-mouth disease constantly present in Europe scarlatina does not accompany it, and that in America, with scarlatina constantly prevailing at some point, foot-and-mouth disease is unknown locally except at long intervals and as the result of the importation of infected animals or their products. Man is susceptible to foot-and-mouth disease, but it never appears during the frequent epidemics of scarlatina.
Among other contagious forms of mammitis I may name one which I have encountered in large dairies, starting as a sore and slight swelling at the opening of the teat and extending up along the milk duct to the gland structure in the bag, all of which become indurated, nodular, and painful. The milk is entirely suppressed in that quarterof the bag, and from that it may extend to the others as it does from cow to cow through the milker's hands.
Another form almost universally prevalent in this district of central New York in 1889 broke out on the teats and udders as blisters strongly resembling cowpox, but which were not propagated when inoculated on calves. It was only exceptionally that this extended through the teat to the gland tissue, yet in some instances the bag was lost from this cause. Scarlatina in man was very prevalent at the time (many schools were closed in consequence), but no definite connection seemed to exist between this and the cow disease, and on different dairy farms there were families of young children that had never had scarlet fever and who did not at that time contract it.
The most common cause of contagious mammitis in cattle is a spherical bacterium in chain form (Streptococcus) (Moore, Ward). Yet it is clear that contagious mammitis is not a single affection, but a group of diseases which have this in common, that they attack the udder.
Prevention.—Prevention is to be especially sought in all such cases. In purchasing new cows see that they come from a herd where the teats and udder are sound. If a new cow with unknown antecedents comes from a public market, let her be milked for a week by a person who does not milk any other cows. Keep her in a separate stall from others, so that there may be no infection from litter or flooring. Wash the udder with soap and water, and wet with a solution of two teaspoonfuls of carbolic acid in a pint of water before letting the regular milker of the other cows take her. If any cow in the herd shows the indurated end of the teat or the inflammation and nodular tender character of the gland, sequestrate her at once and give her a separate milker. If another cow is to be put into the stall she occupied, first clean and scrape it, and wet it with a strong solution of bluestone, 5 ounces in a gallon of water. The milk may be drawn off with a teat tube, or spring teat dilator (Pl. XXIV, figs. 3 and 4), and the milk ducts injected frequently with a solution of peroxid of hydrogen or iodoform. I have had little success in checking the upward progress of the disease through the teat with carbolic acid or boric-acid solutions. Used on the outside of the other teats, however, they may serve to prevent them from becoming infected. In the absence of peroxid of hydrogen the affected teat may be injected with a solution of 1 grain corrosive sublimate in a pint of water, and the same may be used on the other teats, provided it is washed off every time before milking.
As additional precautions, no cow with a retained afterbirth or unhealthy discharge from the womb should be left with the other cows. Such cows doubtless infect their own udders and those of thecows next them by lashing with the soiled tail. If milkers handle retained afterbirth or vaginal discharge, or unhealthy wounds, or assist in a difficult and protracted parturition, they should wash the hands and arms thoroughly with soap and warm water and then rub them with the corrosive-sublimate solution, or if not, at least with one of carbolic acid. Clothes stained with such offensive products should be thoroughly washed.
The general treatment of contagious mammitis does not differ from that of the simple form, except that antiseptics should be given by the mouth as well as applied locally (hyposulphite of soda, one-half ounce daily).
This is another form of contagious inflammation of the udder which does not spread readily from animal to animal except by the hands of the milker. It is held to occur spontaneously in the cow, but this is altogether improbable, and so-called spontaneous cases are rather to be looked on as instances in which the germs have been preserved dry in the buildings or introduced in some unknown manner. It is not uncommon in the horse, attacking the heels, the lips, or some other inoculated part of the body, and is then easily transferred to the cow, if the same man grooms and dresses the horse and milks the cow. It may also appear in the cow by infection, more or less direct, from a person who has been successfully vaccinated. Many believe that it is only a form of the smallpox of man modified by passing through the system of cow or horse. It is, however, unreasonable to suppose that this alleged modified smallpox could have been transmitted from child to child (the most susceptible of the human race) for 90 years, under all possible conditions, without once reverting to its original type of smallpox. Chauveau's experiments on both cattle and horses with the virus of smallpox and its inoculation back on the human subject go far to show that in the climate of western Europe, at least, no such transformation takes place. Smallpox remains smallpox and cowpox, cowpox. Again, smallpox is communicable to a person who visits the patient in his room but avoids touching him, while cowpox is never thus transferred through the air unless deliberately diffused in the form of spray.
The disease in the cow is ushered in by a slight fever, which, however, is usually overlooked, and the first sign is tenderness of the teats. Examined, these may be redder and hotter than normal, and at the end of two days there appear little nodules, like small peas, of a pale-red color, and increasing so that by the seventh day they may measure three-fourths of an inch to 1 inch in diameter. The yield of milk diminishes, and when heated it coagulates slightly.From the seventh to the tenth day the eruption forms into a blister, with raised margins and a depression in the center, and from which the whole of the liquid can not be drawn by a single puncture. The blister, in other words, is chambered, and each chamber must be opened to evacuate the whole of the contents. If the pock forms on a surface where there is thick hair it does not rise as a blister, but oozes out a straw-colored fluid which concretes on the hairs in an amber-colored mass. In one or two days after the pock is full it becomes yellow from contained pus and then dries into a brownish-yellow scab, which finally falls, leaving one or more distinct pits in the skin. Upon the teats, however, this regular course is rarely seen; the vesicles are burst by the hands of the milker as soon as liquid is formed, and as they continue to suffer at each milking they form raw, angry sores, scabbing more or less at intervals, but are slow to undergo healing.
The only treatment required is to heal the sores. As milking is the main cause of their persistence, that must be done as gently as possible, or even with the teat tube or dilator. (Pl. XXIV, figs. 3 and 4.) It is essential to check the propagation of the germ, and for this purpose the sore teats may be washed frequently with a solution of half an ounce hyposulphite of soda in a pint of water. This will usually check the inflammation and cut short the malady.
The absence of milk in the udder may result from ill health, debility, emaciation, chronic disease of the bag, wasting of the gland from previous disease, or insufficient feed, but sometimes it will occur suddenly without any appreciable cause. The treatment consists in removing the cause of the disease, giving rich albuminoid feed made into warm mashes, and administering ounce doses of aromatic carminatives, like anise seed, fennel seed, etc. Rubbing and stripping the udder are useful; the application of oil of lavender or of turpentine, or even a blister of Spanish flies, will sometimes succeed.
Blood may escape with the milk when the udder has been injured by blows; also when it is congested or inflamed, when the circulation through it has been suddenly increased by richer and more abundant feed, or when the cow is under the excitement of heat. The milk frothing up and assuming a pink tinge is often the first sign of red water, and it may result from eating acrid or irritant plants, like the Ranunculaceæ, resinous plants, etc. Deposits of tubercle or tumors in the udder, or induration of the gland, may be efficient causes, the irritation caused by milking contributing to draw the blood. Finally,there may be a reddish tinge or sediment when madder or logwood has been eaten.
In milk which becomes red after it is drawn it may be from the presence in it of theBacillus prodigiosus. This also grows on bread, and is the explanation of the supposed miracle of the "bleeding host."
The treatment will vary with the cause. In congested glands give 1 pound of Epsom salt, and daily thereafter one-half ounce saltpeter, with a dram of chlorate of potassium; the bag should be bathed with hot or cold water, and rubbed with camphorated lard. If the feed is too rich or abundant it must be reduced. If from acrid plants, they must be removed from pasture or fodder. Induration of the udder may be met by rubbing with a combination of iodin ointment 1 part, soft soap 2 parts; mercurial ointment and soap also may be used. Careful milking is imperative.
Watery milk is blue, but the presence of a germ (Bacillus cyanogenes) causes a distinct blue shade even in rich milk and cream. It may reach the milk after it has been drawn, or it may find its way into the opening of the milk ducts and enter the milk as it is drawn. In the latter case frequent milking and the injection of a solution of 2 drams of hyposulphite of soda in a pint of water into the teats will serve to destroy the germs.
This may be caused by fungi developing in the liquid, and that the spores are present in the system of the cow may be safely inferred from the fact that in a large herd two or three cows only will yield such milk at a time, and that after a run of 10 days or a fortnight they will recover and others will be attacked. I have found that such affected cows had the temperature raised one or two degrees above the others. Like most other fungi this does not grow out into filaments within the body of the cow, but in five or six hours after milking the surface layers are found to be one dense network of filaments. If a needle is dipped in this and lifted the liquid is drawn out into a long thread. In one case which I investigated near Ithaca, N. Y., the contamination was manifestly from a spring which oozed out of a bank of black-muck soil and stood in pools mixed with the dejections of the animals. Inoculation of pure milk with the water as it flowed out of this bank developed in it the fungus and the stringy characters. By fencing the spring in and giving the affected cows each 2 drams bisulphite of soda daily, the trouble was arrested promptly and permanently.
These may be caused by anything which irritates them. The powerful sucking of the calf; the sudden chilling of the teat in winter after the calf has just let it go or after the completion of milking with a wet hand; contact with cold water or stagnant, putrid water, or with filth or irritants when lying down; slight congestions of the skin in connection with overstocking; indeed, any source of local irritation may cause chapping. This may be slight or extend into great, gaping sores and induce retention of milk or even mammitis. Soothing applications of vaseline or a combination of equal parts of spermaceti and oil of sweet almonds may be applied. If healing is tardy, add 10 grains balsam of Peru to the ounce of ointment. If the irritation is very great, wash first with a solution of 1 dram sugar of lead in 1 pint of water and then apply benzoated zinc-oxid ointment.
These are often very troublesome, yet they may be greatly benefited or entirely removed by smearing them thickly with pure olive oil after each milking. If they persist they may be cut off with a pair of sharp scissors and the sore touched with a stick of lunar caustic. They may now be oiled and the caustic repeated as demanded to prevent their renewed growth.
Scabby teatsmay be smeared with vaseline containing carbolic acid enough to give it an odor.
Under unhealthy conditions of the gland or milk ducts clots of casein form which, pressed clear of most of their liquid and rolled into rounded masses, may block the passage. They can be moved up and down by manipulation of the teat, and if they can not be pressed out they may be extracted by using the spring teat dilator (Pl. XXIV, fig. 3), being held surrounded by its three limbs. Before extraction is attempted an ounce of almond oil, boiled, should be injected into the teat.
When the calcareous matter of the milk has been precipitated in the form of a smooth, rounded stone, a rough, conglomerated concretion, or a fine, sandlike débris, it may cause obstruction and irritation. These bodies are felt to be much harder than those formed by casein, and the milk usually contains gritty particles. Extraction may be attempted, in the case of the finely divided gritty matter, by simple milking or with the spring dilator (Pl. XXIV, fig. 3) in the case of the larger masses. Should this fail the teat may be laid openwith the knife and sewed up again or closed with collodion, but such an operation is best deferred until the cow is dry.
In this case the obstruction may be near the orifice of the teat or farther up, and the solid mass is not movable up and down with the same freedom as are concretions and calculi. The movement is limited by the elasticity of the inner membrane of the teat from which it grows, and is somewhat freer in certain cases because the growth has become loose and hangs by a narrow neck. In the case of the looser growths they may be snared by a fine, spring wire passed as a loop through a fine tube (like a teat tube open at each end) and introduced into the teat. When this can not be done, the only resort is to cut in and excise it while the cow is dry.
As a result of inflammation extending from without inward, a gradual narrowing of the milk duct may occur from thickening and narrowing of its lining membrane. This may be limited to a small area near the lower end, or it may extend through the whole length of the teat. The stream of milk becomes finer and finer until it finally ceases altogether, and a firm cord is felt running through the teat. If the constriction is only at the outlet, the teat may be seized and distended by pressing the milk down into it from above, and an incision may be made with a sharp penknife in two directions at right angles to each other and directly in the original opening. The knife should be first cleansed in boiling water. The opening may be kept from closing by a dumb-bell shaped bougie of gutta-percha (Pl. XXIV, fig. 5) or by the spring dilator. If the obstruction is more extended it may be perforated by Lüthi's perforating sound. (Pl. XXIV, fig. 1A and 1B.) This is a steel wire with a ring at one end, and at the other is screwed on to the wire a conical cap with sharp cutting edges at the base, which scrapes away the thickened masses of cells as it is drawn back. This may be passed again and again to enlarge the passages sufficiently, and then the passage may be kept open by wearing a long, dumb-bell bougie, a thick piece of carbolized catgut, or a spring dilator. If the passage can not be sufficiently opened with the sound it may be incised by the hidden bistoury. (Pl. XXIV, fig. 2.) This is a knife lying alongside a flattened protector with smooth, rounded edges, but which can be projected to any required distance by a lever on the handle. The incisions are made in four directions, as deep as may be necessary, and the walls then can be held apart by the spring dilator until they heal. In case theconstriction and thickening of the canal extend the whole length of the teat, it is practically beyond remedy, as the gland is usually involved so as to render it useless.
In this form the duct of the teat is closed by the constriction of its lining membrane at one point, usually without thickening. The closure usually takes place while the cow is dry; otherwise its progress is gradual, and for a time the milk may still be pressed through slowly. In such case, if left at rest, the lower part of the teat fills up and the milk flows in a full stream at the first pressure, but after this it will not fill up again without sufficient time for it to filter through. This is to be cut open by the hidden bistoury (Pl. XXIV, fig. 2), which may be first passed through the opening of the membrane, if such exists. If not it may be bored through, or it may be pressed up against the membrane at one side of the teat and opened toward the center, so as to cut its way through. Incisions should be made in at least two opposite directions, and the edges then may be held apart by wearing the spring dilator until healing has been completed.
In all cases of operations on the teats the instruments must be thoroughly disinfected with hot water, or by dipping in carbolic acid and then in water that has been boiled.
This may occur from wounds penetrating the milk duct and failing to close, or it may be congenital, and then very often it leads to a distinct milk duct and an independent portion of the gland. In the first form it is necessary only to dissect away the skin leading into the opening for some distance down, to close the orifice with stitches, and to cover the whole with collodion. A teat tube or spring dilator may be worn to drain the milk off and prevent distention and reopening of the orifice. In case of an independent milk duct and gland one of two courses may be selected—to open the one duct into the other by incision and then close the offending opening, or to inject the superfluous gland through its duct with a caustic solution, so as to destroy its secreting power. In both cases it is desirable to wait until the cow goes dry.
PlatesXXII, XXIII.Supports for prolapsed uterus. These illustrations show various appliances used in prolapse or inversion of the uterus. The uterus should first be returned to its proper situation and then some apparatus applied to prevent a recurrence of the inversion or protrusion.
PlatesXXII, XXIII.Supports for prolapsed uterus. These illustrations show various appliances used in prolapse or inversion of the uterus. The uterus should first be returned to its proper situation and then some apparatus applied to prevent a recurrence of the inversion or protrusion.
PlateXXII:Fig. 1. Crupper, strap truss. (From Hill's Bovine Medicine and Surgery.)Fig. 2. Renault's rope truss. The rope for this truss should be from 25 to 30 feet long and about the thickness of the little finger.
PlateXXII:
Fig. 1. Crupper, strap truss. (From Hill's Bovine Medicine and Surgery.)
Fig. 2. Renault's rope truss. The rope for this truss should be from 25 to 30 feet long and about the thickness of the little finger.
PlateXXIII:Fig. 1. Cow to which Delwart's rope truss has been applied.Fig. 1ashows the loop of Delwart's truss.Fig. 2. Zundel's labial sutures. These consist of two wires passed through the lips of the vulva in a horizontal direction, and two additional wires passed through the loops at the ends of the horizontal wires in order to hold them in place.Fig. 3. Iron truss for holding the vagina or uterus in place after calving. The cords are passed through the eyes at the corners of the triangular iron; the base of the triangle fits under the tail. The truss is from 5 to 7 inches long and about 2½ inches wide.
PlateXXIII:
Fig. 1. Cow to which Delwart's rope truss has been applied.
Fig. 1ashows the loop of Delwart's truss.
Fig. 2. Zundel's labial sutures. These consist of two wires passed through the lips of the vulva in a horizontal direction, and two additional wires passed through the loops at the ends of the horizontal wires in order to hold them in place.
Fig. 3. Iron truss for holding the vagina or uterus in place after calving. The cords are passed through the eyes at the corners of the triangular iron; the base of the triangle fits under the tail. The truss is from 5 to 7 inches long and about 2½ inches wide.
PlateXXIV.Instruments used in diseases following parturition.Fig. 1. Lüthi's perforating sound, for opening the milk canal through the teat when this has become occluded; A, the sound one-half the natural size; B, section of head of sound, natural size, showing cutting edge.Fig. 2. Bistouri caché. A blade hidden in its sheath which by pressure of the finger may be made to protrude a certain distance. This distance is regulated by the screw near the handle. The instrument is used to open the milk canal when closed up. It is introduced into the milk canal with its blade in the sheath and withdrawn with the blade protruding.Fig. 3. Spring teat dilator, about one-half natural size, for dilating the milk canal.Fig. 4. Ring teat syphon, for withdrawing milk when the teat is sore or injured.Fig. 5. Gutta-percha bougie, for dilating the opening of the teat.Fig. 6. Truss applied to calf for umbilical or navel hernia. (From Fleming's Veterinary Obstetrics.)Fig. 7. Armatage's iron clamp for umbilical or navel hernia. When this clamp is applied care must be taken not to include a portion of the bowel.
PlateXXIV.Instruments used in diseases following parturition.
Fig. 1. Lüthi's perforating sound, for opening the milk canal through the teat when this has become occluded; A, the sound one-half the natural size; B, section of head of sound, natural size, showing cutting edge.
Fig. 2. Bistouri caché. A blade hidden in its sheath which by pressure of the finger may be made to protrude a certain distance. This distance is regulated by the screw near the handle. The instrument is used to open the milk canal when closed up. It is introduced into the milk canal with its blade in the sheath and withdrawn with the blade protruding.
Fig. 3. Spring teat dilator, about one-half natural size, for dilating the milk canal.
Fig. 4. Ring teat syphon, for withdrawing milk when the teat is sore or injured.
Fig. 5. Gutta-percha bougie, for dilating the opening of the teat.
Fig. 6. Truss applied to calf for umbilical or navel hernia. (From Fleming's Veterinary Obstetrics.)
Fig. 7. Armatage's iron clamp for umbilical or navel hernia. When this clamp is applied care must be taken not to include a portion of the bowel.
PLATE XXII.PLATE XXII.SUPPORTS FOR PROLAPSED UTERUS.(Click to enlarge)
PLATE XXIII.PLATE XXIII.SUPPORTS FOR PROLAPSED UTERUS.(Click to enlarge)
PLATE XXIV.PLATE XXIV.INSTRUMENTS USED IN DISEASES FOLLOWING PARTURITION.(Click to enlarge)
The moment the circulation through the navel string is stopped the blood of the calf begins to become overcharged with carbon dioxid (CO2), and unless breathing is speedily established death promptly follows. Fortunately the desire to breathe, roused by the circulation of the venous blood and the reflex action from the wet and chilling skin, usually starts the contractions of the diaphragm at once and life is insured. Among the obstacles to breathing may be named suffocation before or during birth from compression of the navel cord and the arrest of its circulation; the detachment of the fetal membranes from the womb before the calf is born; a too free communication between the two auricles (foramen ovale) of the heart by which the nonaerated blood has mixed too abundantly with the aerated and induced debility and profound weakness; a condition of ill health and debility of the calf as a result of semistarvation, overwork, or disease of the cow; fainting in the debilitated calf when calving has been difficult and prolonged; the birth of the calf with its head enveloped in the fetal membranes, so that it has been unable to breathe, and the presence of tenacious phlegm in the mouth and nose, acting in the same manner.
Besides the importance of proper care and feeding of the cow as a preventive measure, attention should be given at once to relieve the newborn calf of its investing membrane and of any mucus that has collected in mouth or nostrils. Wiping out the nose deeply with a finger or feather excites to sneezing, hence to breathing. Blowing into the nose has a similar effect. Sucking the nostril through a tube applied to it is even more effective. Slapping the chest with the palm of the hand or with a towel dipped in cold water, compression and relaxation alternately of the walls of the chest, may start the action, and ammonia or even tobacco smoke blown into the nose may suffice. Every second is precious, however, and if possible the lungs should be dilated by forcibly introducing air from a bellows or from the human lungs. As the air is blown in through bellows or a tube the upper end of the windpipe must be pressed back against the gullet, as otherwise the air will go to the stomach. In a large dairy a pieceof elastic tubing one-third of an inch in bore should be kept at hand for sucking and blowing in such cases.
This may occur in two conditions—when the cord is cut off too close to the navel and left untied and when it tears off at the navel. (Pl. XIV.) It may also bleed when torn across naturally, if it is sucked by the dam or another calf. In an animal with little plasticity to its blood it will flow under almost any circumstances. When any cord is left it is always safe to tie it, and it is only when it is swollen and may possibly contain a loop of the bowel that there is danger in doing so. By pressing upward any bulky contents such danger is avoided. If torn or cut too close to be tied the bleeding may be checked by applying alum, copperas, or for a fraction of a second the end of an iron rod at a dull-red heat. If much blood has been lost it may be requisite to transfuse several ounces of blood or of a weak, common-salt solution into the open, umbilical vein.
Before birth the urine passes from the bladder by a special tube through the navel and navel string into the outer water bag (allantois). (Pl. XII.) This closes at birth, and the tube shrinks into a fine cord up to the bladder. It is only in the bull calf that it is liable to remain open, doubtless because of the long, narrow channel through which the urine must otherwise escape. The urethra, too, is sometimes abnormally narrow, or even closed, in the male. If part of the cord remains, it should be tied and the whole allowed to wither up naturally. If the cord has been removed and the tube (urachus) protrudes, discharging the urine, that alone must be tied. If there is nothing pendent the urachus must be seized, covered by the skin, and a curved needle being passed through the skin and above the duct, it may be tied along with this skin. A blister of Spanish flies, causing swelling of the skin, will often close the orifice—so with the hot iron. If the urethra of the male is impervious it can rarely be remedied.
This may originate in direct, mechanical injury to the navel in calving, or shortly after, with or without the lodgment of irritant or septic matter on its lacerated or cut end. The mere contact with healthy urine, hitherto harmless, can now be looked on as becoming suddenly irritating. The affection is usually marked by the presence of redness and swelling at the posterior part of the navel and theescape of urine and a few drops of whitish, serous pus from the orifice of the urachus. In those cases in which urine is not discharged a tender swelling, like a thick cord extending upward and backward from the navel into the abdomen, may be identified. The navel enlargement may be considerable, but it is solid, does not gurgle on handling, and can not be done away with by pressing it back into the abdomen, as in a case of hernia.
In cases at first closed the pus may burst out later, coming from the back part of the navel and the swelling extending backward. In other cases whitish pus may pass with the urine by the ordinary channel, showing that it has opened back into the bladder. In other cases the umbilical veins become involved, in which case the swelling extends forward as well as backward. Thus the disease may result in destructive disorders of the liver, lungs, and, above all, of the joints.
The disease may usually be warded off or rendered simple and comparatively harmless by applying antiseptics to the navel string at birth (carbolic acid 1 part, water and glycerin 5 parts each, or wood tar). Later, antiseptics may be freely used (hyposulphite of soda 4 drams, water 1 quart) as an application to the surface and as an injection into the urachus, or even into the bladder if the two still communicate. If they no longer communicate, a stronger injection may be used (tincture of chlorid of iron 60 drops, alcohol 1 ounce). Several weeks will be required for complete recovery.
As the result of irritation at calving or by the withered cord, or by licking with the rough tongue of the cow, inflammation may attack the loose connective tissue of the navel to the exclusion of the urachus and veins, and go on to the formation of matter. In this case a firm swelling appears as large as the fist, which softens in the center and may finally burst and discharge. The opening, however, is usually small and may close prematurely, so that abscess after abscess is formed. It is distinguished from hernia by the fact that it can not be returned into the abdomen, and from inflammations of the veins and urachus by the absence of swellings forward and backward along the lines of these canals.
Treatment consists in an early opening of the abscess by a free incision and the injection twice a day of an astringent antiseptic (chlorid of zinc one-half dram, water 1 pint).
In this affection of the navel the inflammation may start directly from mechanical injury, as in either of the two forms just described, but on this are inoculated infective microbes, derived from a retained and putrefying afterbirth, an abortion, a metritis, a fetid dischargefrom the womb, an unhealthy open sore, a case of erysipelas, from overcrowding, from filthy floor or bedding, or from an offensive accumulation of manure, solid or liquid. As the microbes vary in different cases, given outbreaks will differ materially in their nature. One is erysipelatoid; another purulent infection with the tendency to secondary abscesses in the joints, liver, lungs, etc.; another is from a septic germ and is associated with fetid discharge from the navel and general putrid blood poisoning. In estimating the causes of the disease we must not omit debility of the calf when the mother has been underfed or badly housed or when either she or the fetus has been diseased.
Symptoms.—The symptoms vary. With the chain-form germs (streptococci) the navel becomes intensely red, with a very firm, painful swelling, ending abruptly at the edges in sound skin and extending forward along the umbilical veins. The secondary diseases are circumscribed, black engorgements (infarctions) or abscesses of the liver, lungs, kidneys, bowels, or other internal organs, and sometimes disease of the joints.
With the ordinary pus-producing germs (Staphylococcus pyogenes aureusandStreptococcus pyogenes) the local inflammation in the navel causes a hot, painful swelling, which rapidly advances to the formation of matter (pus), and the raw, exposed surface, at first bright red, becomes dark red or black, soft, friable, and pultaceous. If the pus is white, creamy, and comparatively inoffensive in odor, the secondary formations in internal organs and joints are mainly of the same purulent character (secondary abscesses).
If, on the other hand, the discharge is very offensive and the pus more serous, watery, or bloody, there is reason to suspect the presence of some of the septic bacteria, and the results on the general system are a high fever and softening of the liver and spleen and no tendency to abscesses of the internal organs. Diarrhea is a common symptom, and death ensues early, the blood after death being found unclotted.
Complicated cases are common, and in all alike the umbilical veins usually remain open and can be explored by a probe passed at first upward and then forward toward the liver.
Prevention is sought by applying a lotion of carbolic acid or iodin solution to the navel string at birth, or it may be smeared with common wood tar, which is at once antiseptic and a protective covering against germs. In the absence of either a strong decoction of oak bark may be used.
Local treatmentconsists in the application of antiseptic to the surface and their injection into the vein. As a lotion carbolic acid, 1 ounce in a quart of strong decoction of oak bark, should be used, or salicylic acid or salol may be sprinkled on the surface. The interiorof the vein should be swabbed out with a probe wrapped around with cotton wool and dipped in boracic salicylic acid.
If complications have extended to the liver or other internal organs, or the joints, other treatment will be demanded. In acute cases of general infection an early fatal result is to be expected.
This occurs in young calves within the first month after birth. It persists in the joints when once attacked, and is usually connected with disease of the navel. Rheumatism, on the other hand, rarely occurs in a calf under a month old. It tends to shift from joint to joint, and is independent of any navel disease. Again, it affects the fibrous structures of the joints, and rarely results in the formation of white matter, while the affection before named attacks the structures outside as well as inside the joints and, above all, the ends of the bones, and tends to the destruction and crumbling of their tissue, and even to the formation of open sores, through which the fragile bones are exposed. The microbes from the unhealthy and infected wound in the navel pass into the system through the veins, or lymphatics, and form colonies and local inflammations and abscesses in and around the joints.
Symptoms.—The symptoms are the swelling of one or more joints, which are very hot and tender. The calf is stiff and lame, lies down constantly, and does not care to suck. There is very high fever, accelerated breathing and pulse, and there is swelling and purulent discharge (often fetid) from the navel. There may be added symptoms of disease of the liver, lungs, heart, or bowels, on which we need not here delay. The important point is to determine the condition of the navel in all such cases of diseased and swollen joints beginning in the first month of life, and in all cases of general stiffness, for besides the diseases of the internal organs there may be abscesses formed among the muscles of the trunk, though the joints appear sound. Cases of this kind, if they do not speedily die, tend to become emaciated and perish later in a state of weakness and exhaustion.
Prevention.—Prevention must begin with the purity of the buildings and the navel, as noted in the last article.
Treatment.—Treatment is in the main antiseptic. The slighter forms may be painted daily with tincture of iodin, or an ointment of biniodid of mercury (1 dram) and lard (2 ounces) may be rubbed on the affected joints daily until they are blistered. In case of swellings containing matter, this may be drawn through the nozzle of a hypodermic syringe and the following solution injected: Compound tincture of iodin, 1 dram; distilled (or boiled) water, 2 ounces. Internally the calf may take 5 grains quinin twice daily and 15 grains hyposulphite of soda, or 20 grains salicylate of soda three times a day.
This may exist at birth from imperfect closure of the muscles around the opening; it may even extend backward for a distance, from the two sides failing to come together. Apart from this, the trouble rarely appears after the calf has been some time on solid feed, as the paunch then extends down to the right immediately over the navel, and thus forms an internal pad, preventing the protrusion of intestine.
Symptoms.—The symptoms of umbilical hernia are a soft swelling at the navel, with contents that usually gurgle on handling, and can be entirely returned into the abdomen by pressure. The diseases of the navel hitherto considered have no gurgling contents and can not be completely returned into the abdomen. The only exception in the case of the hernia is when the walls of the sac have become greatly thickened. These will, of course, remain as a swelling after the bowel has been returned; and when the protruding bowel has contracted permanent adhesion to the sac, it is impossible to return it fully without first severing that connection.
Treatment.—Treatment is not always necessary. A small hernia, like an egg, in a new-born calf, usually recovers of itself as the animal changes its diet to solid feed and has the paunch fully developed as an internal pad.
In other cases apply a leather pad 8 inches square attached around the body by two elastic bands connected with its four corners, and an elastic band passing from its front border to a collar encircling the neck, and two other elastic bands from the neck collar along the two sides of the body to the two bands passing up over the back. (Pl. XXIV, fig. 6.)
For small hernias nitric acid may be used to destroy the skin and cause such swelling as to close the orifice before the skin is separated. For a mass like a large goose egg one-half ounce of the acid may be rubbed in for three minutes. No more must be applied for 15 days. For large masses this is inapplicable, and with too much loss of skin the orifice may fail to close and the bowels may escape.
The application of a clamp like those used in castration is a most effective method, but great care must be taken to see that all the contents of the sac are returned so that none may be inclosed in the clamp.(Pl. XXIV, fig. 7.)
Another most effective resort is to make a saturated solution of common salt, filter and boil it, and when cool inject under the skin (not into the sac) on each side of the hernia a dram of the fluid. A bandage may then be put around the body. In 10 hours an enormous swelling will have taken place, pressing back the bowel into the abdomen. When this subsides the wound will have closed.
A sac formed at the navel, by contained liquid accumulated by reason of sucking by other calves, is unsightly and sometimes injurious. After making sure that it is simply a dropsical collection it may be deeply punctured at various points with a large-sized lancet or knife, fomented with hot water, and then daily treated with a strong decoction of white-oak bark.
This appearing in the calf at birth is due to the orifice between the two auricles of the heart (foramen ovale) remaining too open, allowing the nonaerated (venous) blood to mix with the aerated (arterial) blood, and it is beyond the reach of treatment. It is recognized by the blueness of the eyes, nose, mouth, and other mucous membranes, the coldness of the surface, and the extreme sensitiveness to cold.
At birth the bowels of the calf contain the meconium, a tenacious, gluey, brownish-yellow material largely derived from the liver, which must be expelled before they can start their functions normally. The first milk of the cow (colostrum, beestings), rich in albumin and salts, is nature's laxative to expel this now offensive material and should never be withheld from the calf. If, for lack of this, from the dry feeding of the cow, or from any other cause, the calf is costive, straining violently without passage, lying down and rising as in colic, and failing in appetite, no time should be lost in giving relief by an ounce dose of castor oil, assisting its action by injections of soapsuds or oil. Whatever meconium is within reach of the finger should be carefully removed. It is also important to give the cow a sloppy, laxative diet.
This may occur from many different causes, as costiveness; a too liberal supply of milk; milk too rich; the furnishing of the milk of a cow long after calving to a very young calf; allowing a calf to suck the first milk of a cow that has been hunted, driven by road, shipped by rail, or otherwise violently excited; allowing the calf too long time between meals, so that impelled by hunger it quickly overloads and clogs the stomach; feeding from the pail milk that has been held over in unwashed (unscalded) buckets, so that it is fermented and spoiled; feeding the milk of cows kept on unwholesome feed; keeping thecalves in cold, damp, dark, filthy, or bad-smelling pens; feeding the calves on artificial mixtures containing too much starchy matter; or overfeeding the calves on artificial feed that may be appropriate enough in smaller quantity. The licking of hair from themselves or others and its formation into balls in the stomach will cause obstinate indigestion in the calf.
Symptoms.—The symptoms are dullness, indisposition to move, uneasiness, eructations of gas from the stomach, sour breath, entire loss of appetite, lying down and rising as if in pain, fullness of the abdomen, which gives out a drumlike sound when tapped with the fingers.
The costiveness may be marked at first, but soon it gives place to diarrhea, by which the offensive matters may be carried off and health restored. In other cases it becomes aggravated, merges into inflammation of the bowels, fever sets in, and the calf gradually sinks.
Prevention.—Prevention consists in avoiding the causes enumerated above or any others that may be detected.
Treatment.—Treatment consists in first clearing away the irritant present in the bowels. For this purpose 1 or 2 ounces of castor oil with 20 drops of laudanum may be given, and if the sour eructations are marked a tablespoonful of limewater or one-fourth ounce calcined magnesia may be given and repeated two or three times a day. If the disorder continues after the removal of the irritant, a large tablespoonful of rennet, or 30 grains of pepsin, may be given at each meal along with a teaspoonful of tincture of gentian. Any return of constipation must be treated by injections of warm water and soap, while the persistence of diarrhea must be met as advised under the discussion following this. In case of the formation of loose hair balls inclosing milk undergoing putrid fermentation, temporary benefit may be obtained by giving a tablespoonful of vegetable charcoal three or four times a day, but the only real remedy is to cut the paunch open and extract them. At this early age they may be found in the third or even the fourth stomach; in the adult they are confined to the first two and are comparatively harmless.
As stated in the last article, scouring is a common result of indigestion, and at first may be nothing more than an attempt of nature to relieve the stomach and bowels of offensive and irritating contents. As the indigestion persists, however, the fermentations going on in the undigested masses become steadily more complex and active, and what was at first the mere result of irritation or suspended digestion comes to be a genuine contagious disease, in which the organized ferments (bacteria) propagate the affection from animal to animal andfrom herd to herd. More than once I have seen such epizootic diarrhea start on the headwaters of a creek and, traveling along that stream, follow the watershed and attack the herds supplied with water from the contaminated channel. In the same way the disease, once started in a cow stable, is liable to persist for years, or until the building has been thoroughly cleansed and disinfected. It may be carried into a healthy stable by the introduction of a cow brought from an infected stable when she is closely approaching calving. Another method of its introduction is by the purchase of a calf from a herd where the infection exists.
In enumerating the other causes of this disease we may refer to those noted above as inducing indigestion. As a primary consideration any condition which lowers the vitality or vigor of the calf must be accorded a prominent place among factors which, apart from contagion, contribute to start the disease de novo. Other things being equal, the strong, vigorous races are the least predisposed to the malady, and in this respect the compact form, the healthy coat, the clear eye, and the bold, active carriage are desirable. Even the color of the hair is not unimportant, as in the same herd I have found a far greater number of victims among the light colors (light yellow, light brown) than among those of a darker tint. This constitutional predisposition to indigestion and diarrhea is sometimes fostered by too close breeding, without taking due account of the maintenance of a robust constitution; hence animals that are very much inbred need to be especially observed and cared for unless their inherent vigor has been thoroughly attested.
The surroundings of the calf are powerful influences. Calves kept indoors suffer to a greater extent than those running in the open air and having the invigorating influences of sunshine, pure air, and exercise; close, crowded, filthy, bad-smelling buildings are especially causative of the complaint. The presence in the air of carbon dioxid, the product of breathing, and of the fetid, gaseous products of decomposing dung and urine diminish by about one-fourth of their volume the life-giving oxygen and in the same ratio hinder the aeration of the blood and the maintenance of vigorous health. Worse than this, such fetid gases are usually direct poisons to the animal breathing them; for example, sulphureted hydrogen (hydrogen sulphid 2 SH2) and various alkaloids (ptomaines) and toxins (neutral poisonous principles) produced in the filth fermentations. These lower the general health and stamina, impair digestion, and by leading to the accumulation in stomach and bowels of undigested materials they lay the foundation for offensive fermentations within these organs and consequent irritation, poisoning, and diarrhea. They further weaken the system so that it can no longer resist and overcome the trouble.
The condition of the nursing cow and her milk is another potent cause of trouble. The feed of the cow is important. The influence of this is shown in the following tables:
In these examples the deterioration of the milk in casein on the less nutritious winter feeding is very marked, although the relative quantity of butter remains almost unchanged. In the case of the goat the result is even more striking, the beet diet giving a very large decrease of both casein and butter and an increase of milk sugar.
The second table following, condensed from the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin, gives the results in butter and total solids when the same cows were fed on different rations in succession. Each cow was fed a daily ration of 12 pounds corn fodder and 4 pounds clover hay, besides the test diet of (1) 12¼ pounds corn-and-cob meal, and (2) 10 pounds sugar meal—a product of the glocuse manufacture. This special feed was given seven days before the commencement of each test period to obviate the effects of transition. The analyses of the special rations are given below: