Part 15

TREATMENT.—It is not advisable to treat tuberculosis. Thus far, medicine has failed to relieve the affected animal, or kill the bacillus of tuberculosis in a living animal. The infected animals should be disposed of on account of tubercular cows giving birth to tubercular calves, the milk being unfit for human consumption, unless it is thoroughly pasteurized. Infected cattle should be separated from healthy ones, as the disease spreads very rapidly. Drinking and feeding troughs are a means of spreading the infection, therefore, suspected cases of tuberculosis should be tested and if the animals react, they should be slaughtered, and if the disease is localized, passed for human consumption. The meat of animals suspected of having tuberculosis, or reacting from tuberculin test, should be well cooked.

TWISTED STOMACH WORM.

CAUSE.—Cattle become affected with this worm by grazing in pastures in which infected cattle have grazed and scattered their droppings. The worms in the stomach produce a multitude of eggs of microscopic size, which pass out of the body with the feces. In warm weather, these eggs hatch in a few hours; if the temperature remains about freezing point, they soon die. The eggs are also destroyed by dryness, but, on the other hand, moisture, if the weather is warm, favors their development. The twisted worm measures one-half inch to one and one-half inches in length.

SYMPTOMS.—General weakness, loss of flesh, anemia, dullness, capricious appetite, excessive thirst, paleness of the skin and mucous membranes of the mouth and eyes, and dropsical swelling, especially that of the lower jaw. Diarrhoea always accompanies this condition and if the feces is carefully examined the small worms may be seen wriggling about like little snakes, or when the animal dies, and the fourth stomach is opened, these worms can be seen in large quantities.

TREATMENT.—Preventative measures are important, as damp, marshy soil favors the development of the embryos. High sloping ground is preferable for pasture. If low ground is used it should be properly drained; burning over the pasture will destroy most of the young worms on the grass and on the ground. Cattle should be supplied with water from flowing streams or wells and not stagnant ponds.

MEDICAL TREATMENT.—Withhold all food for twenty-four hours, then administer Oil of Turpentine, placing it in an ounce capsule and give with capsule gun. Follow in six hours with a physic consisting of Aloin, two drams; Ginger, two drams. Place in capsule and give with capsule gun. When this worm develops in calves, give as follows: One dram Turpentine to a calf three months old, four drams to a calf six months old, six drams to a yearling. To cattle two years and over, give equivalent dose, or an ounce. The physic should be reduced in the same proportions as that of Turpentine.

VERMINOUS BRONCHITIS.

(Lung Worms)

CAUSE.—Due to worm or parasite called Strongylus Micrurus, a small thread-like worm two to four inches in length, found in the bronchial tubes, a portion of the lungs. The life history of this parasite is not known, but infection is apparently derived through the medium of pastures where infested cattle have grazed. Young cattle are more seriously affected than old animals. These parasites are especially common in low marshy pastures.

SYMPTOMS.—This form of bronchitis usually affects the entire herd; the animals become poor, unthrifty, hacking, coughing, especially at night, and sometimes animals actually cough up worms.

TREATMENT.—Various treatments have been recommended for Verminous Bronchitis, or Lung Worm, as injecting Turpentine into the windpipe or fumigating animals by placing them in a closed shed or barn and burning sulphur, compelling the affected animals to inhale the fumes. This treatment perhaps is the safest and the most effective. A person should remain in the enclosed shed and when the fumes become so strong that there is danger of suffocation, open the doors and windows. This treatment should be repeated every week until coughing ceases.

WARBLES OR GRUBS.

CAUSE.—By the heel-fly or warble-fly. They deposit their eggs on the legs of cattle during the fall. The animal, licking the parts, takes the eggs into its mouth. These eggs gradually migrate into the gullet, where they hatch and burrow through the tissues, and in the early spring will be found in the region of the back in the form of small lumps under the skin.

SYMPTOMS.—Warbles are frequently seen under the skin in the region of the back and over the loins, and are very tender to the touch. When they are fully developed they work their way through the skin, which usually occurs in the early part of the summer. Examine your cattle in the winter and spring for the presence of grubs. They can be easily found by running the hand over the loins, by abrupt swellings or bunches on the skin. Pressure on the swelling will perhaps cause the grubs to pop out.

TREATMENT.—Remove the grubs by making a small incision with a clean, sharp knife in the center of the swelling. Then press them out and into each cavity from which the grub has been extracted, or squeezed out, should be injected a five per cent solution of Carbolized Sweet Oil to prevent any further development of flies or grubs. Cattle sprayed with fly repellants during the spring and summer are very seldom bothered with warbles or grubs. However, this is not practical in range cattle; dipping instead should be resorted to, and it is surprising what results will be derived from fly repellants in a year or two. They will practically exterminate the pest, and consequently the cattle are thrifty and look much better.

WARTS.

CAUSE.—Warts may appear on various parts of the body, and are due to an abnormal growth of cells growing upon the outer surface of healthy skin, or they may grow upon skin that is deprived of the proper blood supply.

TREATMENT.—If the wart is located where there is hair surrounding it, cut away the hair, then wash the wart and surrounding parts with a five per cent solution of Carbolic Acid and clip the wart off with a sharp pair of scissors or knife. After the wart is removed, cauterize the cut surface with a hot iron. Caustic Potash or Silver Nitrate should be applied two or three times at the intervals of two or three days to insure the entire extermination of the wart. This treatment applies to all classes of warts located in various places.

WHITES.

(Leucorrhea)

CAUSE.—Continual chronic inflammation of the womb, or due to irritations from a retained afterbirth. Injuries or wounds inflicted by hands or instruments in difficult calving, diseases of the ovaries, etc.

SYMPTOMS.—A garish, white discharge from the womb. When cow is lying down it flows more abundantly, soiling the tail, etc. The general health may not be much affected at first, but if the discharge continues and is putrid, the health fails, the milk shrinks, and there is a great loss of flesh. In some cases heat is more frequent or intense than natural, but the animal rarely conceives when served, and if she does, is likely to abort.

TREATMENT.—Feed nitrogenous food. Wash the womb out with a solution consisting of five grains of Permanganate of Potash to one quart of water. This should be repeated once or twice a day. If the animal is constipated, give two drams of Aloin, three drams of Ginger. Place in gelatin capsule and give with capsule gun. Also place Potassium Iodide one dram, Hyposulphite of Soda one ounce in the drinking water two or three times a day. This not only diminishes the discharge, but has a good effect on the blood, particularly where there is more or less decomposition of the flesh.

WOLF IN THE TAIL.

This condition is imaginary, although the muscles of the tail relax or soften, especially those of its extremity, due to ill health; consequently the condition of the cow should be treated, and not the tail.

TREATMENT.—Remove the cause. Perhaps the animal has indigestion, or a cold, etc. Determine the malady by careful examination and treat the disease under its special heading.

It has been the custom among the so-called cow doctors to split the tail with a sharp knife, then fill the wound with salt and pepper and bandage with a cloth. This is a fallacy, and should not be practiced.

INDEX