Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

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MILK FEVER—DROPPING AFTER CALVING. 406
then weakly creeping on again ? We must not bleed here. These
are indications of debility that cannot be mistaken—nature wants to
be supported, stimulated, not still further weakened. The abstraction
of blood would kill at once.
Is the pulse small, but regular, hard, wiry, and quickened—or is
it full and quickened ? Blood should certainly be taken away. These
are as plain indications of secret and destructive- fire as can possibly
be given. The practitioner should bleed,, but with the finger on the
pulse, anxiously watching the effect produced, and stopping at the
first falter of the heart. Many a beast has been decidedly saved by
this kind of bleeding in puerperal fever ; and many have been
lost through neglect of bleeding. Some may have perished when
the bleeding was carried too far, and some, if the animals were
bled when the pulse gave indications of debility, but none when the
pulse indicated power, and the possibility of febrile action.
The propriety and impropriety of the abstraction of blood' depends
on the state of the pulse and the degree of fever—circumstances
which vary in every case, and in different stages of the same case,
which accurate observation alone can determine.
Next, in order of time, and first of all in importance in this stage
of the disease, stands physic. The bowels must be opened, otherwise
the animal will perish ; but the fever having been subdued by a
judicious bleeding, and the bowels after that being excited to action,
the recovery is in a manner assured. The medicine should be active,
and in sufficient quantity ; for there is no time for trifling here. A
scruple of the farina of the Croton-nut, and a pound of Epsom salts,
will constitute a medium dose. For a large beast the quantity of
the salts should be increased. Doses of half a pound should afterwards
be given every six hours until purgation is produced. The
usual quantity of aromatic medicine should be added. Here, too,
the constitution of the stomachs of cattle should not be forgotten. If
twenty-four hours have passed, and purging has not commenced,
even after the administration of such a drug as the Croton-nut, there
is reason to suspect that the greater part of our medicine has not
got beyond the rumen ; and on account of the cuticular and comparatively
insensible lining of this stomach, strong stimulants must now
be added to the purgative medicine, in order to induce it to contract
upon and expel its contents. Two drachms each of ginger, gentian,
and carraway powder, with half a pint of old ale, may, with advantage,
be given with each dose of the physic.
Warm water, with Epsom salts dissolved in it, or warm soap and
water, will form the best injection, and should be thrown up frequently,
and in considerable quantities.
Should the constipation obstinately continue, it may be worth
while to inject a considerable quantity of warm water into the rumen,
and thus soften and dissolve the hard mass of undigested food, and