diseases of the digestive organs.

DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 33shown that a suspension of digestion or great derangement of the fourthstomach produces considerable nervous disorder of the rumen and sometimesvomiting or attempt to vomit.Treatment.—Easily digested food and plenty of water should be given.Fear and excitement, chasing or hurrying animals after eating heartily,are apt to bring on this result. In order to remove the conditions whichproduce vomiting the following draft should be given: Hydrate ofchloral, half an ounce; whisky, 8 ounces; water, 1 pint. The close tobe repeated when the condition of the animal seems to require it.DEPRAVED APPETITE—PICA.Cattle suffering from this disease have a capricious and variabletite as regards their ordinary food, but evince a strong desire to lick andeat substances for which healthy cattle show no inclination. Alkalineand saline tasting substances are especially attractive to cattle havinga depraved appetite, and they frequently lick lime, earth, coal, gravel,and even the dung of other cattle. Cows in calf and young cattle areespecially liable to develop those symptoms. Animals affected in thisway lose condition, their coat is staring, gait slow, and small vesiclescontaining yellow liquid form under the tongue; the milk given by cowsis thin and watery. Such animals become restless and uneasy, as isindicated by frequent bellowing. The disease may last for months, theanimal ultimately dying, worn out by fever. Depraved appetite frequentlyprecedes the condition in which the bones of cattle become brittleand fracture easily, and which is known by the name of osteomalacia.Causes.—Bad food, especially food which has undergone changeswhich lessen its digestibility and impair its nutritive value, is the commoncause. It has been stated that the food of which animals partakeprevious to becoming affected with this disease must be deficient insome of the constituents required to supply the wear and growth ofthe body, and especially that there is a deficiency of lime salts. Cattlepastured on low, swampy land become predisposed to it. It occasionallyhappens, however, that one individual in a herd suffers though allare fed alike; in such cases the disease must arise from the affectedanimal not assimilating properly the nutritive elements of the foodwhich is supplied to it.Treatment.—The aim in such cases must be to improve the processof digestion and to supply the animal with a sufficiency of sound andwholesome food. The following should be given to the cow three timesa day, a heaped tablespoonful constituting a dose: Carbonate of iron,4 ounces; powdered gentian, 4 ounces; common salt, 4 ounces; powderedfenugreek, 4 ounces; mix. In addition to this three tablespoonfulsof powdered charcoal should be mixed with the animal'sfood at least three times a day, and a piece of rock salt should beplaced where the animal can lick it at will.24697 3