Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

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THE CORDS, OR GUT-TIE.
the bowels with each other, that they become tied into a kind of knot,
and the passage of food along them is obstructed. When the small
intestines of cattle are observed hanging loose, as it were, at the end
of the mesentery, (see fig. 2, p. 330,) it is not to De wondered at, if,
in the disturbed, increased, hurried, and sometimes inverted peristaltic
motion which takes place in consequence of colic, one portion of the
intestine should be entangled among the rest, and the fatal knot
should be tied. Occasionally a small piece of fatty matter disengages
itself from the jpesentery and" hangs floating in the belly, and then,
either in the changes of. situation which the bowels undergo in natu-
ral exercise, or more particularly in the commotion of colic, it entwines
itself round a portion of the intestine, and obstructs the passage.
These twists, and loops, and knots, are sometimes strangely
intricate. When the dead animal lies before the practitioner, it is
almost impossible to unravel them. This is the true net or knot, so
dreaded in some parts of the country. It is the result of those
colicky pains which have been mistaken for strangulation, and which
have been increased and hurried on to the production of this involved
state by the absurd and brutal measures that* have been adopted.
Strangulation having once taken- place, there can be no remedy. All
that can be done is to attack every case of colic in good earnest, as
soon as it is perceived, for no one can tell how soon the displacement,
twist, knot, or whatever it be, will occur in consequence of the per-
verted action of the intestiaes, or the violent struggles of the animal,
caused by the torture which he endures.
THE CORDS, OR GUT-TIE.
This is another singular and fatal species of intestinal strangula-
tion. It is not of unfrequent occurrence in some districts, and espe-
cially in wet and marshy situations : it js peculiar to the ox, and is
rarely observed in him after the second or third year. The beast
shows disinclination to food—rumination is suspended, or performed
in a listless, interrupted manner—the animal appears to be griped
he strikes at his belly with his hind legs—he lies down, and, as he
gets up again, bows his back in an extraordinary way, and then, all
at once, stretching out every limb, he gives the spinal column a
somewhat concave form. Small quantities of fseces are voided, mingled
with mucus, and sometimes with blood ; and if the animal isexamined,
by introducing the hand into the rectum, he evidently
suffers extreme pain.
The ailment is referable to one side more than the other, and.
generally to the left side. The hind leg on that side is frequently
advanced and then retracted, and, in some cases, becomes partially
paralyzed.
These symptoms are more and more alarming : if the ox can be
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