Part 25

This is one of the most malignant diseases to which cattle are liable. Fortunately, however, true murrain is comparatively rare in this great stock-raising country.

The entire system seems to partake of the disease. The first indication of its approach is a feverish condition of the system, attended with a frequent and painful cough; the pulse is small, hard, and rapid. As the disease advances, the respiration becomes disturbed; the flanks heave; vesicular eruption is observed upon the teats, mouth, and feet; the horns are cold; the animal is sometimes lame; constipation and, sometimes, diarrhoea are accompanying symptoms; faeces black and fetid; the eyes weep and become much swollen; great tenderness along the spine; a brown or bloody discharge from the nose and mouth; the animal moans incessantly, grinds his teeth, rarely lies down, but to get up again quickly; finally, the breath becomes very offensive; tumors make their appearance in various parts of the body, which, in favorable cases, suppurate, and discharge a fetid matter.

Treatment.--Give one fourth of a pound of Epsom-salts, with one drachm of Jamaica ginger, twice a day, for two or three days. A bottle of porter, twice a day, will be found serviceable. Very little medicine is required internally in this disease, but much depends upon good nursing. External applications are chiefly to be depended upon. A solution of chloride of lime should be applied to the eruptions, or a solution of the chloride of zinc, twenty grains to an ounce of water; or, of sulphate of zinc, two drachms to a pint of water; or pulverized charcoal applied to the parts will be found useful.

NAVEL-ILL.

Inflammation of the navel in calves occasionally occurs, causing redness, pain, and sudden swelling in the part affected. This disease, if not promptly attended to, speedily carries off the creature.

Treatment.--Foment the part well with warm hop-tea; after which, the application of a cloth, well saturated with lead-water and secured by bandages, should be applied. Internally, doses of Epsom-salts, of two ounces each, dissolved in half a pint of water, should be given until the bowels are acted upon. After the inflammation has subsided, to counteract the weakness which may follow, give a bottle of porter two or three times a day.

OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE OESOPHAGUS.

Choking in cattle is of common occurrence, in consequence of turnips, potatoes, carrots, or other hard substances, becoming lodged in the oesophagus, or gullet.

These obstructions can sometimes be removed by careful manipulations with the hand; but, where this can not be accomplished, the flexible probang should be employed. This is a long India-rubber tube, with a whalebone stillet running through it, so as to stiffen it when in use. This instrument is passed down the animal's throat, and the offending substance is thus pushed down into the stomach.

OPEN JOINTS.

Opening of the joint generally results from accidents, from puncturing with sharp substances, from kicks, blows, etc. These injuries cause considerable nervous irritation in the system, and sometimes cause lock-jaw and death.

Treatment.--Close up the wound as speedily as possible. The firing-iron will sometimes answer the purpose very well. The author depends more upon the application of collodion--as recommended in his work upon "The Horse and His Diseases" for the same trouble--than upon any other remedy. It requires care in its application, in order to make it adhere firmly. Shoemakers'-wax, melted and applied, answers a very good purpose.

PARTURITION.

In natural labor--as has been suggested in a former part of this work--the aid of man is rarely required in bringing away the calf. But it not infrequently happens that, from malformation or wrong presentation, our assistance is required in order to deliver the animal.

The brute force, which has been far too often heretofore resorted to, should no longer be tolerated, since the lives of many valuable animals have been sacrificed by such treatment. Very often, by gentle manipulation with the greased hand, the womb can be so dilated as to afford a comparatively easy exit for the foetus.

If, however, the calf is presented wrong, it must be pushed back and placed in its proper position, if possible. In natural labor, the fore-legs, with the head lying between them, are presented; in which position--unless deformity, either in the pelvis of the cow, or in the foetus, exists--the calf is passed with little difficulty, and without assistance. It sometimes happens that the head of the foetus is turned backward. When this happens, the attendant should at once strip himself to the waist, bathe his arms, and hands with a little sweet-oil, or lard, and introduce them into the vagina, placing a cord around both fore-feet, and then, pushing them back, search for the head, which is to be brought forward to its proper position. The feet are next to be brought up with it. No force should be used, except when the cow herself makes the effort to expel the calf; otherwise, more harm than good may be done.

A case of this kind recently occurred in the author's practice, being the third within a year. The subject was a cow belonging to William Hance, Esq., of Bordentown, New Jersey. After she had been in labor for some twenty hours, he was called upon to see her. Upon inquiry, he found that several persons had been trying, without success, to relieve her. She was very much prostrated, and would, doubtless, have died within two or three hours, had no relief been afforded. The legs of the foetus protruded as far as the knees; the head was turned backward, and with the body, pressed firmly into the vagina, so that it was impossible to return it, or to bring the head forward. The operation of embryotomy was, therefore, at once performed, by cutting away the right shoulder, which enabled the operator, with the aid of his appropriate hooks, to bring the head forward, when the calf came away without further trouble,--the whole operation not requiring fifteen minutes. The uterus was then washed out, and the animal placed in as comfortable a position as possible, and a stimulating draught given, composed of two ounces of nitric ether, one ounce of tincture of opium, and a half pint of water. This was followed with a few doses of Fleming's tincture of aconite, ten drops in a little water, every few hours. In a few days the animal had entirely recovered.

Occasionally, the head comes first, or the head and one leg. In such cases, a cord should be slipped around the jaw and leg, and these then pushed back, so as to allow the other leg to be brought up. When this cannot be done, the foetus can, in most cases, be removed in the original position.

Breech, side, back, and other presentations sometimes occur; in all of which instances, the foetus must be turned in such a position that it can be brought away with as little trouble as possible. When this cannot be accomplished, the only resort is embryotomy, or cutting up of the foetus, which operation can only be safely performed by the qualified veterinary surgeon.

Since writing the above, another case has occurred in the author's practice. The cow--belonging to Samuel Barton, Esq., near Bordentown, New Jersey--had been in labor some eighteen hours; upon an examination of the animal, the calf was found to be very much deformed, presenting backwards,--one of the hind-legs having been pulled off by the person or persons assisting her previous to the author's arrival. Finding it impossible to deliver her in the usual way, embryotomy was in this instance employed. By this means, after taking out the intestines, lungs, etc., of the foetus, and cutting away its hind-quarters, the fore-parts were brought away. The head presented a singular appearance; the under jaw was so twisted as to bring the front teeth on the side of the face; the spinal column or back-bone, was turned twice around, resembling a spiral string; the front legs were over the back; the ribs were much contorted; the hind-parts were as much deformed; and, taken altogether, the deformity was the most singular which has been brought under the author's observation.

FREE MARTINS.--It has long been supposed by stockbreeders, that if a cow produce twins, one of which is a male and the other a female, the female is incapable of producing young, but that the male may be a useful animal for breeding purposes. Many instances have occurred when the twin sister of a bull has never shown the least desire for the male.

This indifference to sexual commerce arises, doubtless, from the animal's being but imperfectly developed in the organs of generation. This fact has been established by the investigations of Mr. John Hunter, who had three of these animals slaughtered for anatomical examination. The result is thus reported: "The external parts were rather smaller than is customary in the cow. The vagina passed on, as in the cow, to the opening of the urethra, and then it began to contract into a small canal, which passed on into the division of the uterus into the two horns; each horn passed along the edge of the broad ligament laterally toward the ovaria.

"At the termination of these horns were placed both the ovaries and the testicles. Both were nearly of the same size, which was about as large as a small nutmeg. To the ovaria, I could not find any Fallopian tube.

"To the testicles were vasa deferentia, but they were imperfect. The left one did not come near the testicle; the right one only came close to it, but did not terminate in the body called the epididymis. They were both pervious and opened into the vagina, near the opening of the urethra.

"On the posterior surface of the bladder, or between the uterus and the bladder, were the two bags, called vesiculae seminales in the male, but much smaller than they are in the bull. The ducts opened along with the vasa deferentia. This animal, then, had a mixture of all the parts, but all of them were imperfect."

Well-authenticated cases have, however, occurred where the female has bred, and the offspring proved to be good milkers. There are several instances on record of cows' giving birth to three, four, and even five calves at a time. There were on exhibition, in 1862, at Bordentown, New Jersey, three free martins, two sisters and a brother, which were beautiful animals. These were from a cow belonging to Mr. Joab Mershon, residing on Biles Island, situated in the Delaware River, a short distance above Bordentown. They were calved November 1st, 1858, and were therefore nearly four years of age. They had never shown the least desire for copulation. Their aggregate weight was 4300 pounds.

We extract the following from the London Veterinarian, for 1854:--"A cow, belonging to Mr. John Marshall, of Repton, on Wednesday last, gave birth to five, live healthy calves, all of which are, at the time I write, alive and vigorous, and have every appearance of continuing so. They are all nearly of a size, and are larger and stronger than could be supposed. Four of them are bull-calves.

"The dam is by no means a large one, is eleven years old, of a mongrel breed, and has never produced more than one offspring at any previous gestation. I saw her two days after she had calved, at which time she was ruminating, and did not manifest any unusual symptoms of exhaustion. I may mention that the first four calves presented naturally; the fifth was a breech-presentation."