Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

WORMS. SOT
animal dies and almost all the purgative medicine that has been given
is found in the rumen, it is because that stomach has not been suffi-
ciently stimulated. There is something in the structure of cattle
which renders certain medical rules and principles altogether inapplicable,
and which, in defiance of all fever, occasionally compels us
to mingle strange doses of aromatics and stimulants with the very
means by which we are endeavoring to subdue inflammation. This is
a very important consideration in the treatment of disease.
Homoeopathic treatment.—The more or less inflammatory state
which generally accompanies it, requires that we commence the
treatment with a* dose of aconitum. The most eifectual means then
is nux vomica ; it is indicated chiefly, when the evacuations from the
bowels are scanty, hard, covered with mucus, and when the animal
frequently draws up the belly. If there be no thirst, we should
have recourse to china and bryonia. The latter remedy is also suitable
when the constipation has been produced by cold, a circumstance
in which it frequently alternates with diarrhoea. Opium and argila
must be employed when the inactive state of the intestinal tube
allows nothing to escape from the body, and the animal remains lying
down, though evincing no pain. In very obstinate constipation,
where the rectum is empty, and also where only a small quantity of
matter escapes, which is not very hard, plumbum never fails to be
effectual.
CALCULI.
It has been stated (pp. 299 and 300) that various concretions are
found in the rumen of cattle. It is the natural situation for them,
for there the food is longest detained, and there they have time to
form. A few, but much smaller, calculi are occasionally found in
the reticulum ; others, composed of thin and friable concentric layers,
occupy, yet comparatively rarely, the large intestines of cattle ; but
they also are not of great size, for the food passes too rapidly over
the smooth surface, of these portions of the digestive canal. There
are no symptoms by which their presence can be recognized, nor is
there any evidence cf their being the cause of disease, although it is
not improbable that the presence and pressure of these bodies, and
the irritation produced by them, may in some instances be the cause
of colic, strangulation, and other serious affections.
These occasionally are found in the intestines of cattle, but in no
great quantities ; nor are there any authenticated accounts of their
being the cause of irritation or disease. The food is so perfectly
prepared for digestion, and that process is so rapidly accomplished,
and the nutriment is so completely extracted, that there is little left
for the support of wortas ; nar, if they are received into the intes-