Manual of veterinary homeopathy

CHAPTER I
GENERAL DISEASES

Black Leg

Black Leg affects cattle when from three months to two years old, younger or older than this they rarely have it. It comes from a well known germ, the Bacillus Chanvoei, which enters the system through a cut or scratch, such as produced by thorns, barbed wire, etc. The disease cannot be transmitted to man.

Symptoms.—The chief characteristic of this disease is the swellings which may appear on any part of the body, except the tail or below the knee or hock. The thigh and shoulder are most commonly attacked. The swellings rapidly increase in number and may run together. They give a crackling sensation on pressure and are cool and without tenderness in the center. If opened in the center there is no pain and a frothy fluid comes out.

There are also general symptoms as follows: the animal does not eat or chew the cud, loss of strength and general depression, high fever, lameness, stiffness and often dragging of one leg on account of the swellings. These symptoms increase as the disease progresses, the breathing becomes faster, the animal groans and may have attacks of colic. The animal almost always dies in from one and one-half to three days.

Treatment.—The disease is incurable, and diseased animals should be killed at once, the bodies burned and the premises disinfected as given under Abortion, page 122. The healthy animals should be moved to another pasture and the infected pasture burned off the following winter, this destroys the germs in that pasture.

Cattle may be rendered immune to Black Leg by vaccination. The vaccine with directions for its use is given away to stock owners by the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Foot and Mouth Disease—Eczema Epizootica

Definition.—An acute, contagious fever, characterized by the formation of vesicles and ulcers, chiefly about the mouth and hoofs, etc. The eruptions appear on the mucous membrane of the mouth, on the fetlock, and in the cleft of the hoofs, and not unfrequently as a eruption on the udder. The disorder chiefly prevails among cattle and sheep, but under favoring circumstances, also attacks other domestic quadrupeds, and even man.

Causes.—It appears as an epidemic, and spreads exclusively by contagion. The precise nature of the germ is unknown, but it is chiefly limited to the contents of the vesicles, the secretion of the ulcers, the saliva, the blood and the natural secretions and excretions, of the diseased animal; and these convey the disease. The predisposing causes are exposure to cold, wet, currents of cold air, poor fodder, want of cleanliness and good housing; and anything that tends to lower the constitutional vitality. The activity of the virus is preserved for many months. The poison may be conveyed by the clothes of herdsmen and other persons, by manure, tools, fodder, by grass and ground previously trodden by diseased animals, and milk to sucking calves, indeed by almost anything. It finds its way into the system in various ways, not depending on any wound for admission. The communication to man is by drinking the milk of diseased cows. A second attack is rare.

Symptoms.—After a period of incubation, lasting from three to six days, the animal is seized with a shivering fit, and appears dull and stupified. A vesicular eruption soon appears on the mouth, the hoofs, and the teats. Sucking calves have a similar eruption on the fauces and pharynx, with irritation of the whole alimentary canal, attended with inability to suck, and exhausting diarrhea. The eyes are then observed to be dim, watery, congested; the muzzle, ears and horns alternately hot and cold; shivering ensues; rumination is diminished; the milk is less in quantity, yellower and thicker than usual, and much deteriorated in quality; the bag swollen, tender, hot; the back arched; the coat staring and harsh; the pulse somewhat accelerated; the temperature moderately elevated, reaching 102°, or even 104°; the eruption in the month is first seen on the inner surface of the upper lip, the edge of the upper jaw where there are no teeth, on the tip and edges of the tongue, and is indicated by salivation, by pain and loss of power in taking and eating food. The vesicles occur on the mucous membrane, singly or in patches, first as little red spots, then as whitish-yellow, slightly turbid blisters, about the size of a bean, at first transparent, but subsequently filled with a puriform fluid. These vesicles burst in about eighteen hours, discharge their fluid, leaving behind shallow ulcers, which often run together and then form deep and ragged ulcers. The lips, cheeks, tongue, and sometimes the Schneiderian membrane, are affected. The eruption on the feet is first seen around the coronet and in the interdigital space, especially of the hind legs; and the resulting vesicles burst quickly, because of the animal’s movements. The animal evidently suffers intense pain, is lame or unable to stand, and moves reluctantly or cautiously; the hoofs swell; the vascular secreting membranes become inflamed; the hoofs are cast; the bones may become diseased; and serious mischief may ensue. The eruption on the udder turns to vesicles, as in the mouth, and, when the fluid dries or escapes, thin scales are formed. The teats are swollen and sore. In exceptional cases, a vesicular eruption appears on the muzzle, the mucous membrane of the nostrils, the conjunctivae of the eyes, and the mucous membrane of the vagina.

In favorable cases, the fever subsides about the fourth day, the eruption declines, the appetite returns, and in seven to fourteen days the animal recovers. But complications are not uncommon. And in unfavorable cases the fever is high, the ulceration increases, the animal suffers from exhaustion, wasting, discharge of stringy, bloody mucous from the mouth, and of offensive matter from the nostrils; the face is swollen, the breath foul, the respiration rapid and grunting; the pulse small, weak, rapid; the blood becomes impure; the belly and legs œdematous; the hoofs slough off; diarrhea supervenes, and death follows about the ninth or tenth day. An aggravation may occur in milch cows by the bursting of the vesicles when the teat is grasped in milking, for the fluid escapes, the sore bleeds and ulcer spreads; and though the sore be scabbed over between the milking times, the scab is then again pulled off. The consequence is that the cow, feeling intense pain and irritation, kicks, resents the milking, holds back the milk, and thus prevents the “stripping” of the udder. The effect of this may be an attack of inflammation of the udder, which may prove fatal, or may be followed by induration and atrophy of the udder. Or abscesses may form in the udder, and sometimes large portions of it slough away, rendering the cow comparatively useless for milking purposes. Abortion is not uncommon.

This disease may be easily mistaken for Stomatitis, cow pox or fowl of the foot. However in Stomatitis there is no eruption on the foot; and in cow pox and fowl of the foot there is no eruption on the muzzle.

Prognosis.—This is unfavorable—The United States Government and the Health Officers of the several States require all suspected cases of Foot and Mouth Disease to be quarantined, and upon the full development of the disease all animals infected, to be killed. Human beings are liable to become infected, great care should be exercised in handling diseased animals or their carcases.

This disease is almost invariably the consequence of cold and wet, or chill after over-exertion. The symptoms are as follows:

Dullness; loss of spirits; disinclination to move, and painful stiffness of the back or joints when moving; loss of appetite; pain in the back, manifested by the animal flinching when pressed upon; the joints, one or more, become affected, and the animal prefers to lie down, and cannot move without great pain and difficulty; the joints, or one or more of them, become swelled, and are also exceedingly hot and tender to the touch. In some cases, there is considerable heat and fever, in others, it is but slight. The complaint is quite liable to return from exposure, changes of weather, or even the wind blowing from a different quarter. The disease not unfrequently changes from one joint or limb to another.

Treatment.—The B.B., is for all the usual forms of this disease, giving twenty drops, three or four times per day, in severe cases, and morning and night in the mild ones.

When the disease is ushered in or attended with considerable heat and fever, either during its continuance, or from the first, the A.A., in doses of twenty drops, should be alternated with the B.B., at the intervals mentioned above.

Lumbago

This is merely a form of rheumatism, locating itself upon the muscles of the loins. It may be mistaken for some other or different disease, and hence its symptoms should be known.

Symptoms.—After some exposure, especially to cold or wet, or a draft of air, the cow will suddenly become lame in one leg, without other signs to explain the nature of the attack. Another leg may then be affected, while the first one seems better or quite well. Some pain and heat may be discovered in one of the joints; and then the muscles of the back show more clearly the location of the disease; or from the first the disease may be referable to this point; the animal yields and flinches when they are pressed upon, in consequence of the pain; the beast is not able to walk, or does so very stiffly and awkwardly, in consequence of increased pain from movement. These attacks may continue for a time, disappear and return again, in consequence of new exposure.

Treatment.—The B.B. should be given, a dose of twenty drops, three times per day, which follow with J.K.

Ophthalmia, Inflammation of the Eye

Diseased and inflamed eyes in cattle may sometimes occur as a result of congestion, or from inflammation or a cold, but in general from an injury, the result of a blow of a whip, or stick, or from dirt or hay seed, or some similar substance irritating the eye.

Symptoms.—The eyelids are swelled and closed; tears flow in abundance; the eye shrinks from the light when the lids are opened; the white of the eye or conjunctiva is reddish or covered with red veins; the haw is also red and swollen; the eye itself is clouded and covered with a film.

Treatment.—Examine the eye for dirt, hay seed, or other substances, and when found remove them. Bathe the eye with Humphreys’ Marvel Witch Hazel, diluted half and half with soft water, morning and night, until the more violent symptoms are removed. Give, internally, fifteen drops of A.A. each morning and night.

In long standing cases, a dose of I.I., repeated every few nights, will be found of great value, while the A.A. is given each morning.

Fits, Convulsions, Epilepsy

The symptoms of fits are pretty well known. Without any or very trifling warning, the beast staggers and falls suddenly to the ground; he often bellows in the most alarming manner; then every part of the body is violently convulsed; the tail is lashed; the teeth are ground; the mouth closed, and jaws fastened together; the breathing is quick and attended with heaving at the flanks; frothy saliva dribbles from the mouth, and the urine and dung are discharged involuntarily. In a few moments the convulsions become less severe, then cease, and the animal soon seems as well as if nothing had happened.

Fits are most apt to attack young, vigorous, well fed cattle, or those that have been much exposed to the direct action of the sun.

Treatment.—Little or nothing can be done during an attack; but as one is likely to be followed by another, the medicine should be given as soon as the attack is well over.

Give, immediately after the attack, twenty drops of the A.A., and repeat the remedy morning and night for some days.

If an animal is subject to these fits (epilepsy), returning at intervals of a few days or weeks, give, alternately, at intervals of six or eight days, twenty drops of A.A., and J.K., and continue these for some time.

Foul in the Foot, Foot-rot

Usually comes from standing on a filthy floor, but may follow an injury or tuberculosis.

There is lameness and swelling of the pasterns, and heat, with evident pain; matter then forms, and unless it is let out, it will extend in all directions under the foot, and appear at the coronet or top of the hoof; and from this long, narrow ulcers remain, and proud flesh springs up from the diseased places.

Treatment.—Place animal in stall with clean dry bedding. Examine the foot carefully, and remove all foreign substances, dirt, etc., that may be found; then foment the foot with hot water, night and morning, and apply the Veterinary Oil, and wrap it up with a cloth to keep it clean; the hoof should be pared, and those parts of it cut away that may interfere with the escape of matter; all dead hoof must be removed. The sore must be examined, and if dark and unhealthy, the Oil and covering must be renewed from time to time until the dark matter sloughs off. After the ulcer looks clean, simply apply the Veterinary Oil, over which a cloth must be kept wrapped around to prevent dirt lodging in the wound and causing fresh irritation. These may be renewed, if needful, until entire recovery.

Give also the I.I., each night, a dose of twenty drops.

Mange

Mange is a disease caused by parasites which live on the skin of the animal. These parasites are of three kinds: 1. Burrowing mites or Sarcoptes. 2. Sucking mites or Dermatodectes. 3. Scale eating mites or Symbiotes. The first class can be seen only with a magnifying glass but the last two can be seen with the naked eye.

Sarcoptic Mange is very rare in cattle; the dermatodectic and symbiotic are the usual forms.

Symptoms.—Great itching; so that the animal is continually rubbing itself, the hair falls off, scabs or sores remain in patches particularly at the sides and hollow of the neck and the root of the tail.

Treatment.—Clip the hair around the sore places and soften scabs by applying oil or glycerine containing 5% of creolin or lysol. Then apply a thick lather of green soap and leave on over night. These applications are to soften and remove the scabs and prepare the skin for the real remedy. Of these there are many; sulphur ointment (equal parts flowers of sulphur and lard) is an old standby or you can use a 3% solution of creolin or lysol. This should be thoroughly rubbed into the skin by a brush and kept on for a week reapplying as it becomes rubbed off. Then wash off and reapply for another week. The reason for the second application is that while the first will kill off all the animals, there may be some eggs that are not killed and if only one application is made after it has been removed, the eggs may hatch out and the Mange come back.

Hidebound

This condition, in which the skin seems firm, hard and bound to the parts beneath, is due to some morbid condition of the system rather than to a disease of the skin itself. There is most frequently some derangement of the stomach, or some old standing organic disease. Remove these, and the disease disappears, and the hide becomes soft and loose.

Treatment.—Giving twenty drops of J.K., morning and night, will generally remove the difficulty.

If it fails after a fair trial, give the J.K., each night, and twenty drops of I.I., each morning.

Anthrax

Anthrax is a very contagious disease from which comes a well known germ, the bacillus anthracis, and which attacks almost all animals and man. The germ lives in the animal’s body and also in rich moist soils, and is very difficult to eradicate. The germ enters the body by the mouth, in food or water, or through cuts in the skin.

Symptoms.—There is sudden high fever (105 to 107) the pulse is very frequent (80 to a 100 or more) small and scarcely perceptible. The mucous membrane of the head becomes very red, the eyes red, swollen and filled with tears. The temperature of the body is unequally distributed, some parts hot, others cold. The animal does not eat or chew the cud. There is great depression, weakness, stupor and loss of sensation. There is trembling over the body, particularly in the hind quarters, which may even “give way”. Sometimes instead of stupor, there are attacks of fury, where the animal will bellow and dash itself against any object it may see.

There may or may not be carbuncles, these are small swellings about the size of a walnut, which may appear on the head, chest, abdomen, etc., they are blue-black or dark red in color and are not usually painful.

One of the most remarkable things about anthrax is its rapid course, most animals die in from 12 to 48 hours. After death the bodies do not get stiff and decay very rapidly.

Treatment.—This disease is recognized as being incurable, and generally fatal. In suspected cases, give A.A., every two hours, until the animal improves, or the disease becomes thoroughly developed in which latter case the animal should be killed at once, the body burned, and the premises disinfected as given under contagious abortion, page 122.

Big Jaw—Actinomycosis

This disease is caused by the Ray fungus which is sometimes found on barley, oats, cactus, dried grass, etc., and which enters the body of the animal through cuts or wounds on the tongue, gums, etc., and particularly with young animals at teething time.

Symptoms.—These of course vary with the position of the wound, through which the fungus entered the body. If on the tongue, the tongue becomes swollen and very painful “wooden tongue.” If around the teeth, the jaw becomes swollen and finally the growth breaks through the skin or into the mouth. If through the skin of the head or neck, large nodules appear, varying in size from a hazel nut to a man’s fist.

Treatment.—The most successful treatment is by cutting out the nodules; this of course should be done by a Veterinary Surgeon.

We advise calling a Veterinary Surgeon and having him perform the operation as soon as possible, as the disease is usually curable if properly handled and it cannot be transmitted to man or to the other animals.

Texas Fever—Red Water—Black Water—Hemoglobinuria

This disease is an infection of the blood by small animals called protozoa which are transmitted by the cattle tick. Only cattle get this disease although other animals may have plenty of ticks.

The cattle tick spends part of its life on the animal and part on the ground. The females after having become pregnant, while on the cattle, drop to the ground and lay their eggs; when the eggs hatch, the young ticks crawl to the top of the blades of grass and attach themselves to the cattle.

There are two types of this disease, the acute and the chronic, the acute form usually attacks cattle in hot weather, while the chronic or mild form is more apt to be found in the fall.

Symptoms.—In the acute form there is fever, great depression, loss of appetite, and the animal does not chew the cud. The animal lies down or stands with arched back. The most characteristic symptom is the color of the urine; this ranges from pink to black. Death takes place in from three to four days, generally preceded by a fall of temperature, or the fever may drop and the animal recover very slowly. In the chronic or mild type, there is fever, loss of appetite, the animal does not chew the cud and may become very thin; but usually the urine is not discolored. In this type of the disease the animals usually recover.

You should be careful not to mistake Texas Fever for Anthrax or Black Leg. In Texas Fever the ticks are always found on the hide, and calves do not have it while all animals have Anthrax. The membranes are pale in Texas Fever, but very red in Anthrax. In Black Leg the animals are from six months to two years old, older or younger they do not have it; and of course there are the characteristic swellings.

Treatment.—Prevention is usually more satisfactory than treatment after the disease has started. However as the disease is not transmitted to the other animals or to man, there is no reason for not trying to save the animal. Give A.A., twenty drops four times a day for two days, then alternate H.H., with the A.A. Remove all ticks and place in a tick free enclosure and give nourishing diet.

Prevention.—For small numbers of animals in infested districts.

Pick or brush the ticks from the animals three times per week particularly from belly, legs, tail and udder from June 1st to November 1st.

Or smear the legs and sides of the cattle twice a week with Beaumont crude petroleum, or a mixture of 1 gallon each of cottonseed and kerosene oil (coal oil) containing 1 pound of sulphur, these may be either brushed or sprayed on from June 1st to November 1st.

For large numbers of animals write to the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., and ask for Farmers Bulletin No. 152.

To remove ticks from an infested pasture.

1. Remove all animals on September 1st and allow no animals on the pasture until April 1st, or cultivate the pasture for a year, or burn it over in spring and fall, and allow no animals with ticks on it.

Government Approvals

Approval of Dr. Humphreys’ Preparations has been bestowed by the Medical Authorities of different American Republics. Their introduction into France has been allowed by the French Government. They have been approved by the National Board of Health of the Argentine Republic and by the National Board of Health of the United States of Brazil.

Many complete outfits of Humphreys’ Veterinary Remedies have been furnished to the United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior.

Humphreys’ Veterinary Remedies are constantly being supplied to the U. S. Naval Magazines, Iona Island, New York.

Choryza, or Cold in the Head

This very common affection consists of an irritation, and sometimes inflammation of the lining membrane of the nose. It is usually caused by exposure to cold or wet, or too sudden changes of weather; it is sometimes the commencement of catarrh, and is most frequent during winter and early spring; or it may arise from the irritation of dust inhaled during a long journey.

Symptoms.—In some cases of cold, the irritation is confined to the nose alone, and is then known as Choryza. It is manifested by a discharge from the nose, first thin and watery, afterward becoming thicker, like matter, and corrosive, fretting the skin.

If the disease extends along the air passages, bronchitis, or even inflammation of the lungs, results, manifested by the cough, fever and difficulty of breathing peculiar to these affections.

Treatment.—For mere choryza or cold in the head, give twenty drops of C.C., morning and night.

If symptoms of Fever, Bronchitis, or Pneumonia should be present, interpose a few doses of A.A., twenty drops, repeated every three or four hours, which will promptly relieve. Consult also what is said on Bronchitis or Pneumonia.

Hoose, Catarrh, or Common Cold

Differs from the Choryza, as the irritation involves the lining membrane of the entire air passages. It is most frequent in the changeable weather of spring and fall, when cattle are exposed to frequent alternations of temperature, or when too many cows are crowded together in a stable, rendering the air hot and impure. Young beasts and cows after calving are especially subject to hoose.

Symptoms.—Dry nose, frequent cough, discharge from the nostrils, stiffness of the limbs, disinclination to move, purging, cold skin, and then hot; imperfect chewing of the cud, failing of milk, watery eyes, quick pulse and breathing. It is very frequent and very fatal in calves, and requires to be attended to promptly in all cases, or it will end in some more dangerous disease.

Treatment.—During the earlier stage, with fever, heat, quick pulse and breathing, give the A.A., a dose of twenty drops, four times per day.

Should cough and irritation remain, or not yield promptly to the A.A., give the E.E., the same dose, repeated four times daily; or if fever yet continues, give the two Remedies in alternation, at intervals of three hours.

For calves, give one-third or half as much as for grown cattle, according to age or size.

Sore Throat or Pharyngitis

The disease consists of inflammation, with consequent swelling and soreness of the top of the gullet or passage between the mouth and stomach. It arises from the same causes which produce colds, and sometimes assumes an epidemic and very fatal character, especially when the spring or fall is very cold and wet and the animals graze on damp, marshy grounds. It is usually accompanied with catarrh.

Symptoms.—Difficulty of swallowing, so that solid food is partially chewed and then dropped from the mouth; fluids are gulped down, or partly return through the nostrils; or all food may be refused in consequence of the severe pain attending swallowing; the cud is not chewed; the throat and glands of the neck are swelled, hot and painful; the cough is frequent, hoarse, and indicates pain; the breathing becomes very difficult and labored, and the pulse full and quick.

Treatment.—Give twenty drops of A.A., every three or four hours, until three doses have been given, then begin with the C.C., and give every three hours of the C.C., in alternation with the A.A. As the animal improves and the fever and heat abate, the A.A., may be discontinued, and the C.C., be used alone, at intervals of four or six hours.

In all febrile diseases of cattle, it is of the utmost importance to house them in a warm, dry, comfortable stable, free from exposure, dampness, or cold drafts of air, especially in cold or moist weather.

Cough

Cough in the cow is rarely or never a disease of itself, but merely a symptom or attendant of some disease of the respiratory organs, such as Catarrh, Bronchitis, Pleurisy or Pneumonia, of which it is merely the indication. Its symptomatic importance is such that it always deserves attention, and its cause should at once be carefully investigated. In some case very grave alterations may be going on in the lungs, which will escape notice if attention be not directed to it by means of the cough. Examine the animal carefully, ascertain the state of her pulse, breathing, appetite, secretion of milk, etc., and direct treatment for such disease as is found to be present.

However, in the absence of any special indications, the E.E., should be given, a dose of twenty drops morning and night, which will generally relieve, and will not be out of place in any case.

Bronchitis, or Inflammation of the Bronchial Tubes

This disease is usually the result of exposure to cold and wet, or sudden changes of temperature; it is almost always preceded by a common cold, which has been neglected or overlooked.

Symptoms.—Cough, which becomes by degrees more painful, frequent and husky; the countenance becomes anxious and distressed; the breathing is quick, heaving and obstructed, in consequence of tough, tenacious phlegm; unwillingness to move; the breath is hot; the cough is increased by moving about, occurs in fits, and is wheezing in character; no food is eaten; the animal wastes; skin becomes dry, and is bound to the ribs; the coat stares and looks unthrifty. The animal may die from extension of the disease to the substance of the lungs.

Treatment.—The earlier stages of this disease, or catarrh, should be treated at once, as directed under that head. Then a dose or two of the remedy for that disease removes all danger.

Remove the animal to a warm but well ventilated stable, and feed on warm mashes and gruel.

Give first, at intervals of two hours, two or three doses of A.A., twenty drops at a dose. This will allay the heat and fever to some extent. Then alternate, at intervals of three hours, the E.E., with the A.A., the same doses, and continue this treatment until restored, only that the medicine need not be given so frequently after improvement has progressed.

Pleurisy

This disease consists of an inflammation of the delicate membrane which lines the chest, and also is reflected over or covers the lungs.

It is caused most frequently by exposure to cold, or from the extension of catarrh. Pleurisy rarely exists alone, but is almost invariably complicated with bronchitis or pneumonia, or both.

Symptoms.—The disease generally begins in the same manner as pneumonia, with dullness, loss of appetite, etc. The cough is attended with pain, and seems to be cut short, as if the animal tried to stop it; the breathing is short, seemingly cut off and evidently painful during the passage of the air into the lungs, and is attended with a grunt during its expiration; the sides are painful when pressed upon; the skin, at the angles of the mouth, is wrinkled; the shoulders and upper part of the chest are in a constant quiver; the head is stretched out; the eyes are unusually bright; the tongue hangs out of the mouth, from which frothy slaver is continually flowing. The animal neither eats nor chews the cud; she gets weaker and thinner every day, and all the symptoms become more and more severe until death ensues, often preceded by excessive purging.

Treatment.—Give at first the A.A., a dose of twenty drops, every two hours, and continue this the first day and night if the case is severe.

Then alternate the E.E., with the A.A., at intervals of two, three or four hours.

Food and Stabling.—In all serious diseases of the air-passages, Bronchitis, Pleurisy, Pneumonia, etc., the animal should be placed in a dry, comfortable stable, not too close, and her food should consist of bran mashes, boiled carrots or turnips, meal-gruel and hay tea. Good old hay may be given sparingly; straw and chaff not at all. When the appetite is returning, great care must be taken not to give too much food at once, for if the stomach is overloaded or crammed, disease is almost sure to return, and the animal to die in consequence. Give but very sparingly of food until the stomach has fully regained its former power of digestion.

Pneumonia, or Inflammation of the Lungs

This is an inflammation of the substance of the lungs, or lights, and is rarely unaccompanied with pleurisy or bronchitis. It is usually brought on by exposure to cold or sudden changes of temperature, or from the extension of a common cold.

The Symptoms are as follows: The cow becomes dull, disinclined to move, and hangs her head; the muzzle is dry; the mouth hot; the cough frequent and dry; the coat rough and staring; the horns, ears and feet are hot at one time and cold at another; the breathing is quickened and attended with heaving of the flanks; the pulse is full and quick; appetite is gone and chewing of the cud suspended. The thirst is great, bowels bound and dung dark-colored; the spine is tender when pressed upon; the head projected forward and eyes staring; tears flow down the face; the teeth are ground; a discharge flows from the nose, at first clear and watery, afterwards red and containing some blood; the breathing becomes quicker, more difficult, and labored as the disease advances; the cough comes on in fits; the nostrils are widened, and play to their utmost limit; the body is covered with sweat; the pulse becomes weaker and increased in frequency, and these symptoms increase in violence and become gradually worse until the animal dies.

Treatment.—Give, the first twelve or twenty-four hours, the A.A., a dose of twenty drops, every two hours.

After the fever and heat have been thus in a measure subdued, alternate the E.E. with the A.A., at intervals of three hours, giving as before, twenty drops at a dose.

Continue this treatment steadily, except that, unless the case is very critical and urgent, the medicine need not to be kept up during the night, but a dose of the E.E. may be given, late in the night, and be permitted to act undisturbed until the morning; then go on as before.

For food and stabling, consult the article on Pleurisy, page 149.

Bronchitis from Worms

Causes.—Calves and yearlings are particularly liable to the production of parasite worms, of the genus Filaria, in the bronchial tubes, which are sometimes choked up with them. They are from one to three inches long, of a silvery color, and generally invade cattle fed in low, marshy or woody pasture, where there is little water.

Symptoms.—Slight catarrh; cough, at first dry and husky, then short and paroxysmal; accelerated breathing, with occasional grunting, and distress in the chest; quick pulse (100); thin nasal discharge; dullness; wasting. If these be not relieved, the animal becomes restless, manifests anxiety, breathes with rapidity, difficulty and grunting; the ears hang, the nostrils widen, the eyes are hollow; dyspnœa, debility, and atrophy end in death. Sometimes there is tolerable health, while the flesh all wastes away, and nothing is left but skin and bones. A post-mortem examination shows inflammation and thickening of the bronchia and lungs, and accumulation of worms, rolled together with mucous in small balls.

Treatment.—Where there is any doubt of the existence of worms, treat as for bronchitis. If disease is evidently from an accumulation of worms in the bronchial tubes, the inhalation of chloroform is recommended, repeated at lengthened intervals, according to the circumstances of the case.

Tuberculosis—Consumption

Definition.—This is a serious and almost always a chronic disease, characterized by the formation of tubercles in the lungs, glands, intestines, udder, etc., which, increasing in size and running together, at length suppurate, and form abscesses in the substance of those organs.

Causes.—Tuberculosis is caused by the Bacillus Tuberculosis which is transmitted to a healthy animal by water, fodder, dust, etc., which has come in contact with the nasal or uterine discharges of a diseased animal. However bad ventilation and poor nourished predispose to the disease.

Symptoms.—Inward, feeble, painful, hoarse, gurgling cough, especially after exertion; loss of appetite; irregularity of rumination; disturbance of digestion; emaciation; loss of hair, especially of the eye-brows; unthrifty appearance.

Treatment.—This disease is recognized as being incurable, and generally fatal. In suspected cases, give A. A., and E.E., every two hours, until the animal improves or the disease becomes thoroughly developed, in which latter case the animal should be killed at once.

Accessory Treatment.—The animal should be housed in a stable that is comfortable and airy, but free from north and east winds, and kept apart from other cattle; it should never be hurried, excited or alarmed; the litter should be frequently changed and kept dry, and the skin frequently rubbed and curry-combed to stimulate its perspiratory action.

Humphreys’ Veterinary Salesman crossed the continent to visit Palo Alto, the stock farm of

After presenting proper credentials and exhibiting the list of prominent stock owners using the Remedies, Mr. Reynolds, the superintendent, and Mr. Marvin, the trainer, consented to his treating Sunol (later owned by Robert Bonner, Esq.,) and Palo Alto for lameness.

After thoroughly testing the Remedies on these and other cases, Mr. Stanford’s Business Manager and Attorney, Mr. Lathrop, placed an order for Humphreys’ Veterinary Remedies, probably the largest ever given for Veterinary Medicines alone.

Rumination

Oxen and sheep belong to the class of animals known as Ruminants, which feed principally on the leaves and stalks of plants. The quantity of food which they take at a time is very considerable; with a powerful prehensile tongue, they rapidly gather up into their mouths thick and long tufts of grass, which are only slightly masticated, and immediately swallowed. Four stomachs—so called, although the fourth stomach is the true stomach, and the other three are appendages of the œsophagus—are employed in the process of digestion. The first—the paunch, or rumen—is by far the larger of the four, occupying three-fourths of the abdominal cavity. Its mucous membrane is rough with papillæ or eminences, and protected with a dense scaly epithelium. The second is called the recticulum, or honey-comb bag, because the lining mucous membrane is so disposed in folds as to form hexagonal spaces; within these spaces the tubes of the glands may be seen. This bag is the smallest of the digestive organs, is connected with the anterior part of the paunch, with which it communicates freely, and to which, indeed, it may be regarded as dependent. The third cavity is the manyplies, maniplus or omasum; the first name being given on account of the many plies or folds formed by the mucous membrane. These folds are of unequal breadth, the principal ones being separated by others, which gradually diminish in size. The surface is covered with papillæ, the folds being flattened at the sides and somewhat pointed at the fore edges, forming ridges and furrows. The contents of the manyplies are always dry; the food sometimes becomes compressed into thin cakes between the folds, and the epithelium manifests a tendency to peel off in shreds and adhere to the pulpy mass of food. The fourth cavity—the abomasum or rennet—is the true stomach, discharging the same functions as the stomachs of those animals that have only one such organ. It is considerably larger than either the second or third stomach, although less than the first; is lined with a thick villous coat, which is contracted into ridges and furrows, somewhat like the omasum, and secretes an acid, solvent juice, essential to the process of chymification. The act of rumination calls into exercise the first three organs. The crushed food passes from the œsophagus to the rumen; there it remains for some time, subject to the action of heat, saliva, mucous and the secretion of the organ. The tougher the food the longer it is retained. From the rumen the food passes to the recticulum, where the operation of maceration, commenced in the first stomach, is continued, the operation being facilitated by a slow, churning movement characteristic of both organs. The recticulum also appears to be the special receptacle of the fluid that is swallowed, for this at once passes into it, without going into the first stomach. The precise nature of the action of the secretions is uncertain. It is supposed to be a fermentation; no doubt at all times a certain proportion of gas is evolved from the food, but excessive fermentation is indicative of disease (Hoove), and of rapid and dangerous chemical change in the contents of the rumen. The pulpy mass, to which the food has been reduced by the chemical change and churning movement of the first two digestive cavities, is now prepared for thorough mastication by the teeth, and for ultimate solution by the digestive fluids. This mastication is rumination, or “chewing the cud.” The return of the food to the mouth for this operation is effected by the churning movement and by the contraction of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, which press upward against the rumen and recticulum. The act of regurgitation is very evident to an observer, who sees a large mass ascend from the paunch and distend the œsophagus with an eructating noise. At the moment that a mass of the food passes into the mouth, the accompanying liquid is swallowed into the first of the three stomachs, leaving the solid portion to be slowly ground by the teeth. The length of time thus taken varies with the toughness of the food. Young and very old animals take longer to chew the cud than healthy adults. When the food has been sufficiently comminuted it is again swallowed, some of it into the first two stomachs; but, by a peculiar mechanism of muscular contraction; the passage into the first is so closed that the greater portion of it passes through the opening into the third stomach, from which it goes into the abomasum. The function of the omasum appears to be to regulate the descent of food into the abomasum, though some means of assimilation may take place between its many plies. The last stomach, as already stated, completes the process of digestion.

Loss of the Cud

This is a mere symptom which accompanies many diseases, and even morbid conditions, which scarcely deserve the name of disease, and will yield with the removal of the ailment of which it is a mere symptom. Sometimes it may be present when nothing else is sufficiently tangible to warrant treatment, or it may continue after the disease otherwise seems to have been removed.

Treatment.—In any case in which it appears to exist independently, or to be the principal symptom, give twenty drops of the J. K., morning and night, The “cud” will soon return.