CHAPTER II.—PART II.
DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF RESPIRATION
Choryza, or Cold in the Head
This very common affection consists of an irritation, and sometimes inflammation of the lining membrane of the nose. It is usually caused by exposure to cold or wet, or too sudden changes of weather; it is sometimes the commencement of catarrh, and is most frequent during winter and early spring; or it may arise from the irritation of dust inhaled during a long journey.
SYMPTOMS.—In some cases of cold, the irritation is confined to the nose alone, and is then known as Choryza. It is manifested by a discharge from the nose, first thin and watery, afterward becoming thicker, like matter, and corrosive, fretting the skin.
If the disease extends along the air passages, bronchitis, or even inflammation of the lungs, results, manifested by the cough, fever and difficulty of breathing peculiar to these affections.
TREATMENT.—For mere choryza or cold in the head, give twenty drops of C.C., morning and night.
If symptoms of Fever, Bronchitis, or Pneumonia should be present, interpose a few doses of A.A., twenty drops, repeated every three or four hours, which will promptly relieve. Consult also what is said on Bronchitis or Pneumonia.
Hoose, Catarrh, or Common Cold
Differs from the Choryza, as the irritation involves the lining membrane of the entire air passages. It is most frequent in the changeable weather of spring and fall, when cattle are exposed to frequent alternations of temperature, or when too many cows are crowded together in a stable, rendering the air hot and impure. Young beasts and cows after calving are especially subject to hoose.
SYMPTOMS.—Dry nose, frequent cough, discharge from the nostrils, stiffness of the limbs, disinclination to move, purging, cold skin, and then hot; imperfect chewing of the cud, failing of milk, watery eyes, quick pulse and breathing. It is very frequent and very fatal in calves, and requires to be attended to promptly in all cases, or it will end in some more dangerous disease.
TREATMENT.—During the earlier stage, with fever, heat, quick pulse and breathing, give the A.A., a dose of twenty drops, four times per day.
Should cough and irritation remain, or not yield promptly to the A.A., give the E.E., the same dose, repeated four times daily; or if fever yet continues, give the two Remedies in alternation, at intervals of three hours.
For calves, give one-third or half as much as for grown cattle, according to age or size.
Sore Throat or Pharyngitis
The disease consists of inflammation, with consequent swelling and soreness of the top of the gullet or passage between the mouth and stomach. It arises from the same causes which produce colds, and sometimes assumes an epidemic and very fatal character, especially when the spring or fall is very cold and wet and the animals graze on damp, marshy grounds. It is usually accompanied with catarrh.
SYMPTOMS.—Difficulty of swallowing, so that solid food is partially chewed and then dropped from the mouth; fluids are gulped down, or partly return through the nostrils; or all food may be refused in consequence of the severe pain attending swallowing; the cud is not chewed; the throat and glands of the neck are swelled, hot and painful; the cough is frequent, hoarse, and indicates pain; the breathing becomes very difficult and labored, and the pulse full and quick.
TREATMENT.—Give twenty drops of A.A., every three or four hours, until three doses have been given, then begin with the C.C., and give every three hours of the C.C., in alternation with the A.A. As the animal improves and the fever and heat abate, the A.A., may be discontinued, and the C.C., be used alone, at intervals of four or six hours.
In all febrile diseases of cattle, it is of the utmost importance to house them in a _warm_, _dry_, _comfortable stable_, free from exposure, dampness, or cold drafts of air, especially in cold or moist weather.
Cough
Cough in the cow is rarely or never a disease of itself, but merely a symptom or attendant of some disease of the respiratory organs, such as Catarrh, Bronchitis, Pleurisy or Pneumonia, of which it is merely the indication. Its symptomatic importance is such that it always deserves attention, and its cause should at once be carefully investigated. In some case very grave alterations may be going on in the lungs, which will escape notice if attention be not directed to it by means of the cough. Examine the animal carefully, ascertain the state of her pulse, breathing, appetite, secretion of milk, etc., and direct treatment for such disease as is found to be present.
However, in the absence of any special indications, the E.E., should be given, a dose of twenty drops morning and night, which will generally relieve, and will not be out of place in any case.
Bronchitis, or Inflammation of the Bronchial Tubes
This disease is usually the result of exposure to cold and wet, or sudden changes of temperature; it is almost always preceded by a common cold, which has been neglected or overlooked.
SYMPTOMS.—Cough, which becomes by degrees more painful, frequent and husky; the countenance becomes anxious and distressed; the breathing is quick, heaving and obstructed, in consequence of tough, tenacious phlegm; unwillingness to move; the breath is hot; the cough is increased by moving about, occurs in fits, and is wheezing in character; no food is eaten; the animal wastes; skin becomes dry, and is bound to the ribs; the coat stares and looks unthrifty. The animal may die from extension of the disease to the substance of the lungs.
TREATMENT.—The earlier stages of this disease, or catarrh, should be treated at once, as directed under that head. Then a dose or two of the remedy for that disease removes all danger.
Remove the animal to a warm but well ventilated stable, and feed on warm mashes and gruel.
Give first, at intervals of two hours, two or three doses of A.A., twenty drops at a dose. This will allay the heat and fever to some extent. Then alternate, at intervals of three hours, the E.E., with the A.A., the same doses, and continue this treatment until restored, only that the medicine need not be given so frequently after improvement has progressed.
Pleurisy
This disease consists of an inflammation of the delicate membrane which lines the chest, and also is reflected over or covers the lungs.
It is caused most frequently by exposure to cold, or from the extension of catarrh. Pleurisy rarely exists alone, but is almost invariably complicated with bronchitis or pneumonia, or both.
SYMPTOMS.—The disease generally begins in the same manner as pneumonia, with dullness, loss of appetite, etc. The cough is attended with pain, and seems to be cut short, as if the animal tried to stop it; the breathing is short, seemingly cut off and evidently painful during the passage of the air into the lungs, and is attended with a grunt during its expiration; the sides are painful when pressed upon; the skin, at the angles of the mouth, is wrinkled; the shoulders and upper part of the chest are in a constant quiver; the head is stretched out; the eyes are unusually bright; the tongue hangs out of the mouth, from which frothy slaver is continually flowing. The animal neither eats nor chews the cud; she gets weaker and thinner every day, and all the symptoms become more and more severe until death ensues, often preceded by excessive purging.
TREATMENT.—Give at first the A.A., a dose of twenty drops, every two hours, and continue this the first day and night if the case is severe.
Then alternate the E.E., with the A.A., at intervals of two, three or four hours.
FOOD AND STABLING.—In all serious diseases of the air-passages, Bronchitis, Pleurisy, Pneumonia, etc., the animal should be placed in a dry, comfortable stable, not too close, and her food should consist of bran mashes, boiled carrots or turnips, meal-gruel and hay tea. Good old hay may be given _sparingly_; straw and chaff not at all. When the appetite is returning, great care must be taken not to give too much food at once, for if the stomach is overloaded or crammed, disease is almost sure to return, and the animal to die in consequence. _Give but very sparingly of food_ until the stomach has fully regained its former power of digestion.
Pneumonia, or Inflammation of the Lungs
This is an inflammation of the substance of the lungs, or lights, and is rarely unaccompanied with pleurisy or bronchitis. It is usually brought on by exposure to cold or sudden changes of temperature, or from the extension of a common cold.
THE SYMPTOMS are as follows: The cow becomes dull, disinclined to move, and hangs her head; the muzzle is dry; the mouth hot; the cough frequent and dry; the coat rough and staring; the horns, ears and feet are hot at one time and cold at another; the breathing is quickened and attended with heaving of the flanks; the pulse is full and quick; appetite is gone and chewing of the cud suspended. The thirst is great, bowels bound and dung dark-colored; the spine is tender when pressed upon; the head projected forward and eyes staring; tears flow down the face; the teeth are ground; a discharge flows from the nose, at first clear and watery, afterwards red and containing some blood; the breathing becomes quicker, more difficult, and labored as the disease advances; the cough comes on in fits; the nostrils are widened, and play to their utmost limit; the body is covered with sweat; the pulse becomes weaker and increased in frequency, and these symptoms increase in violence and become gradually worse until the animal dies.
TREATMENT.—Give, the first twelve or twenty-four hours, the A.A., a dose of twenty drops, every two hours.
After the fever and heat have been thus in a measure subdued, alternate the E.E. with the A.A., at intervals of three hours, giving as before, twenty drops at a dose.
Continue this treatment steadily, except that, unless the case is very critical and urgent, the medicine need not to be kept up during the night, but a dose of the E.E. may be given, late in the night, and be permitted to act undisturbed until the morning; then go on as before.
For food and stabling, consult the article on Pleurisy, page 149.
Bronchitis from Worms
CAUSES.—Calves and yearlings are particularly liable to the production of parasite worms, of the genus _Filaria_, in the bronchial tubes, which are sometimes choked up with them. They are from one to three inches long, of a silvery color, and generally invade cattle fed in low, marshy or woody pasture, where there is little water.
SYMPTOMS.—Slight catarrh; cough, at first dry and husky, then short and paroxysmal; accelerated breathing, with occasional grunting, and distress in the chest; quick pulse (100); thin nasal discharge; dullness; wasting. If these be not relieved, the animal becomes restless, manifests anxiety, breathes with rapidity, difficulty and grunting; the ears hang, the nostrils widen, the eyes are hollow; dyspnœa, debility, and atrophy end in death. Sometimes there is tolerable health, while the flesh all wastes away, and nothing is left but skin and bones. A _post-mortem_ examination shows inflammation and thickening of the bronchia and lungs, and accumulation of worms, rolled together with mucous in small balls.
TREATMENT.—Where there is any doubt of the existence of worms, treat as for bronchitis. If disease is evidently from an accumulation of worms in the bronchial tubes, the inhalation of chloroform is recommended, repeated at lengthened intervals, according to the circumstances of the case.
Tuberculosis—Consumption
DEFINITION.—This is a serious and almost always a chronic disease, characterized by the formation of tubercles in the lungs, glands, intestines, udder, etc., which, increasing in size and running together, at length suppurate, and form abscesses in the substance of those organs.
CAUSES.—Tuberculosis is caused by the Bacillus Tuberculosis which is transmitted to a healthy animal by water, fodder, dust, etc., which has come in contact with the nasal or uterine discharges of a diseased animal. However bad ventilation and poor nourished predispose to the disease.
SYMPTOMS.—Inward, feeble, painful, hoarse, gurgling cough, especially after exertion; loss of appetite; irregularity of rumination; disturbance of digestion; emaciation; loss of hair, especially of the eye-brows; unthrifty appearance.
TREATMENT.—This disease is recognized as being incurable, and generally fatal. In suspected cases, give A. A., and E.E., every two hours, until the animal improves or the disease becomes thoroughly developed, in which latter case the animal should be killed at once.
ACCESSORY TREATMENT.—The animal should be housed in a stable that is comfortable and airy, but free from north and east winds, and kept apart from other cattle; it should never be hurried, excited or alarmed; the litter should be frequently changed and kept dry, and the skin frequently rubbed and curry-combed to stimulate its perspiratory action.
PALO ALTO
* * * * *
HUMPHREYS’ VETERINARY SALESMAN crossed the continent to visit Palo Alto, the stock farm of
GOVERNOR STANFORD
THE HOME OF
SUNOL, ARION, PALO ALTO, &c.
After presenting proper credentials and exhibiting the list of prominent stock owners using the Remedies, Mr. Reynolds, the superintendent, and Mr. Marvin, the trainer, consented to his treating SUNOL (later owned by Robert Bonner, Esq.,) and PALO ALTO for lameness.
After thoroughly testing the Remedies on these and other cases, Mr. Stanford’s Business Manager and Attorney, Mr. Lathrop, placed an order for HUMPHREYS’ VETERINARY REMEDIES, probably the largest ever given for Veterinary Medicines alone.