Chapter 13

_Symptoms._--The symptoms usually appear suddenly and consist in inability to stand. Sometimes this is preceded by a period of excitement. The animal usually lies quietly, but sometimes it groans and tosses its head about in a way that indicates pain. Cows heavy with calf are sometimes affected with a form of paraplegia, which usually attacks them from about a month to a few days before calving. Apparently they are in good health in every respect except the inability to stand up on account of the paralysis of the hind quarters. This form is generally attributed to feeding on feeds containing insufficient protein and ash. It is most likely to occur in cows that are weak and thin. With good care and feed recovery usually occurs.

_Treatment._--The animal must be given a soft, dry bed under shelter and in a quiet, airy place. It is well to apply mustard along the spine. The action of the mustard may be intensified by rubbing the skin with ammonia or turpentine. Internally give a purge of Glauber's salt. Nux vomica or strychnia (1 to 2 grain doses) may be given. Turn the cow two to four times daily and rub the legs well each time.

There are instances when cows will persist in lying down (in spite of all efforts that are made to compel them to stand up), when it can not really be said that they are paralyzed. They have sensation in all parts; they can move all their feet; they can change their position; and in fact every function seems to be normally performed, but they obstinately refuse to rise or even make an effort to do so. Cases of this kind have been killed, as it was an utter impossibility to get the animal on its feet. However, there are instances when a cow, after refusing to rise when all other means had been tried, quickly jumped to her feet and showed fright upon the appearance of a dog or other terrifying object.

RABIES (HYDROPHOBIA).

[See discussion of this disease in chapter on "Infectious diseases," p. 358.]

LIGHTNING STROKE (ASPHYXIA ELECTRICA).

When an animal is struck by lightning the shock is instantaneously expended on the nervous system, and as a rule death occurs immediately; but when the shock is not fatal animation is suspended to a greater or less extent, as evidenced by prostration, unconsciousness, and paralysis.

_Symptoms._--When not fatal, the symptoms vary much, according to the severity of the shock. The animal usually falls, as from an apoplectic attack, and, as a matter of course, the symptoms are such as are generally manifested in connection with concussion of the brain. The muscular system may be completely relaxed; the legs limber; the muscles flabby and soft to the touch; or there may be convulsions, spasms, and twitching of the muscles. The breathing is generally labored, irregular, or interrupted, and slower than normal. In most instances the electrical fluid leaves its mark by singeing the hair, or by inflicting wounds, burns, or blisters.

_Treatment._--So long as the beating of the heart is perceptible the endeavor to resuscitate the animal should be continued. Dash cold water over the head and body; rub the body and legs; smartly whip the body with wet towels or switches. Mustard, mixed with water, should be well rubbed over the legs and back of the head on each side of the neck. Inject into the rectum 4 drams of stronger liquor ammonia, or 1-1/2 ounces of hartshorn diluted with a quart of warm water. Cautiously hold an uncorked bottle of hartshorn to the nostrils, so that some of it is inhaled, but care should be taken that too much is not suddenly inhaled. If the animal is unconscious, hypodermic injections of stimulants are indicated, such as 6 drams of camphorated oil in one dose, subcutaneously, or 20 grains of caffein or 1/2 grain of strychnin, also subcutaneously.

When the animal revives sufficiently to be able to swallow, 4 drams of the stronger liquor ammonia, diluted with a quart of cold water, should be given as a drench, and the dose should be repeated in an hour. One and one-half ounces of ordinary hartshorn may be used instead of the stronger liquor ammonia, but, like the latter, it should be diluted with a quart or more of water, and even then care should be exercised in drenching.

In cases where the shock has not caused complete insensibility recovery may be hastened by the ammonia and water drench, or 4 ounces of brandy diluted with a quart of water, or 8 ounces of whisky diluted with a quart of water. These doses may be given every three or four hours if necessary. After recovery from the more serious symptoms 2 drams of sulphate of quinin should be given twice a day until health is restored. If any paralysis remains 1-1/2 drams of pulverized nux vomica should be given twice a day with the quinin.

The foregoing treatment is also applicable when the electrical shock is given by telephone, electric car, or electric-light wires, etc. The wounds, burns, or blisters should be treated according to the antiseptic method of treating wounds.

TUMORS IN THE BRAIN, ETC.

Tumors of different kinds have been found within the cranial cavity, and in many cases there have been no well-marked symptoms exhibited during the life of the animal to lead one to suspect their existence. Cases are recorded where bony tumors have been found in the brain of cattle that died suddenly, but during life no signs of disease were manifested. Post-mortem examinations have disclosed tubercles in the membranes of the brain. (See "Tuberculosis," p. 407.) Abscesses, usually the result of inflammation of the brain, have been found post-mortem. For the description of hydrocephalus, or dropsy of the brain, of calves the reader is referred to the section on parturition. (See "Water in the head," p. 179.)

Chorea, constant twitching and irregular spasmodic movements of the muscles, has been noticed in connection with or as a sequel to other affections, as, for example, parturient apoplexy.

Various diseases, the description of which will be found in other sections of this work, affect the nervous system to a greater or less extent--for example, ergotism, lead poisoning, uremia, parturient apoplexy, colic, and other affections associated with cramps, or spasms, etc. Disease of the ovaries or of the spinal cord, by reflex irritation, may cause estromania (see "Excess of venereal desire," p. 148, constant desire for the bull).

DISEASES OF THE URINARY ORGANS.

By JAMES LAW, F. R. C. V. S.,

_Formerly Professor of Veterinary Science, etc., in Cornell University._

Of the materials that have served their purpose in building up the animal body or in sustaining the body temperature, and that are now to be thrown out as waste, the greater part is expelled from the system through the lungs and the kidneys, but the agents that pass out by either of these two channels differ in the main from those passing by the other. Thus from the lungs in the form of dioxid of carbon--the same gas that comes from burning of coal or oil--there escapes most of the waste material resulting from the destruction in the system of fats, sugars, starch, and such other foods as are wanting in the element nitrogen, and do not form fibrous tissues, but go mainly to support animal heat or maintain functional activity. From the kidneys, on the other hand, are thrown out the waste products resulting from the destruction of the foods and tissues containing nitrogen--of, for instance, albumin, fibrin, gluten, casein, gelatin, woody tissue, etc. While much of the waste material containing nitrogen leaves the body by the bowels, this is virtually only such of the albuminoid food as has failed to be fully digested and absorbed; this has never formed a true constituent part of the body itself or of the blood, but is so much waste food, like that which has come to the table and again carried away unused. If the albuminoid food element has entered the blood, whether or not it has been built up into a constituent part of the structure of the body, its waste products, which contain nitrogen, are in the main expelled through the kidneys, so that the latter become the principal channels for the expulsion of all nitrogen-containing waste.

It would be an error, however, to infer that all nitrogenous food, when once digested and absorbed into the blood, must necessarily leave the system in the urine. On the contrary, in the young and growing animal, all increase of the fibrous structures of the body is gained through the building up of those flesh-forming constituents into their substance; in the pregnant animal the growth of the offspring and its envelopes has a similar origin, and in the dairy cow the casein or curd of the milk is a means of constant elimination of these nitrogen-containing agents. Thus, in the breeding cow and, above all, in the milking cow, the womb or udder carries on a work in one sense equivalent to that otherwise performed by the kidneys. Not only are these organs alike channels for the excretion of albuminous products, but they are also related to each other structurally and by nervous sympathy, so that suffering in the one is liable to induce some measure of disorder in the other.

As in the case of other mammals, this nitrogenous waste matter is mainly present in the urine of cattle in the form of urea, but also, to some extent, as hippuric acid, a derivative of vegetable food which, in the herbivora, replaces the uric acid found in the urine of man and carnivora. Uric acid is, however, found in the urine of sucking calves which have practically an animal diet, and it may also appear in the adult in case of absolute, prolonged starvation, and in diseases attended with complete loss of appetite and rapid wasting of the body. In such cases the animal lives on its own substance, and the product is that of the wasting flesh.

The other products containing nitrogen are present in only small quantities and need not be specially referred to. The urine of cattle contains much less of carbonates than that of the horse, and effervesces less on the addition of an acid. As the carbonates form a large proportion of the solid deposits (gravel, stone) from the horse's urine, the ox may thus be held less liable, yet even in the ox the carbonates become abundant or scanty, according to the nature of the feed, and therefore gravel, formed by carbonate of lime, is not infrequent in cattle. When fed on beets, clover hay, or bean straw carbonates are present in large quantities, these aliments being rich in organic acids and alkaline carbonates; whereas upon oat straw, barley straw, and, above all, wheat straw, they are in small amount. In calves fed on milk alone no carbonates are found in the urine.

Phosphates, usually in combination with lime, are, as a rule, present only in traces in the urine of cattle; however, on a dietary of wheat, bran, or other aliment rich in phosphates, these may be present in large amount, so that they render the liquid cloudy or are deposited in solid crystals. The liquid is rendered transparent by nitric acid.

The cow's urine, on a diet of hay and potatoes, contained:

Parts. Urea 18.5 Potassic hippurate 16.5 Alkaline lactates 17.2 Potassium bicarbonate 16.1 Magnesium carbonate 4.7 Lime carbonate 0.6 Potassium sulphate 3.6 Common salt 1.5 Silica Trace Phosphates 0.0 Water and undetermined substances 921.3 _______ Total 1,000.0

The following table after Tereg[1] gives the different conditions of the urine, and especially the amount of urea and hippuric acid under different rations. The subjects were two oxen, weighing, respectively, 1,260 pounds and 1,060 pounds:

+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+---- Food per day.|Water. (pounds) | |Urine | |Passed. | | |Density. | | | |Solids | | | |in urine. | | | | |Hippuric | | | | |acid. | | | | | |Urea. | | | | | | |Nitrogen | | | | | | |in hippuric | | | | | | |acid and | | | | | | |urea. | | | | | | | |Total | | | | | | | |nitrogen. | | | | | | | | |Urea | | | | | | | | |per day. | | | | | | | | | |Hip- | | | | | | | | | |puric | | | | | | | | | |acid | | | | | | | | | |per | | | | | | | | | |week --------------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- |_Lbs._|_Lbs_| |_Pct_|_Pct_|_Pct_|_Pct_|_Pct_|_Ozs_|_Ozs_ 16.90 wheat | | | | | | | | | | straw, and | 46.46| 7.40|1,036| 8.41| 2.66| 1.33| 0.83| 0.94| 1.63|3.23 1.30 bean | | | | | | | | | | meal | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 14.70 oat | | | | | | | | | | straw, and | 61.10|15.26|1,039| 6.93| 2.09| 0.84| 0.55| 0.49| 2.2 |5.3 2.30 bean | | | | | | | | | | meal | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10.4 wheat | | | | | | | | | | straw, 10.4 | 71.76|12.36|1,043| 8.05| 0.95| 1.85| 0.93| 0.94| 3.83|1.96 clover hay, | | | | | | | | | | 0.6 bean | | | | | | | | | | meal, and | | | | | | | | | | 2.6 starch | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10.4 wheat | | | | | | | | | | straw, 10.4 | 80.54|12.46|1,044| 8.29| 8.07| 2.41| 1.19| 1.11| 5.8 |2.1 clover hay, | | | | | | | | | | 2.7 bean | | | | | | | | | | meal, 1.4 | | | | | | | | | | starch, and | | | | | | | | | | 0.8 sugar | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10.4 wheat | | | | | | | | | | straw, 10.4 | 78.96|17.62|1,043| 8.41| 0.74| 3.12| 1.45| 1.24| 9.17|2.17 clover hay, | | | | | | | | | | 5 bean meal, | | | | | | | | | | and 0.8 sugar | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10 wheat | | | | | | | | | | straw, 10 |110.12|25.86|1,038| 7.00| 0.31| 2.49| 1.19| 1.25|10.9 |1.33 clover hay, | | | | | | | | | | 6.4 bean | | | | | | | | | | meal, 1.7 | | | | | | | | | | starch, 4 | | | | | | | | | | sugar, and | | | | | | | | | | 0.4 rape oil | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10 wheat | | | | | | | | | | straw, 10 |101.80|27.04|1,037| 7.14| 0.20| 2.95| 1.39| 1.58|13.3 |0.9 clover hay, | | | | | | | | | | 9.4 bean | | | | | | | | | | meal, 3.1 | | | | | | | | | | sugar, and | | | | | | | | | | 0.4 rape oil | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 10 wheat | | | | | | | | | | straw, 10 |119.00|23.20|1,038| 7.74| 0.21| 4.06| 1.91| 1.69|15.4 |0.8 clover hay, | | | | | | | | | | 11.7 bean | | | | | | | | | | meal, 2.8 | | | | | | | | | | starch, and | | | | | | | | | | 0.5 rape oil | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 17.86 bean | | | | | | | | | | straw, and | 54.84|12.60|1,043| 7.06| 0.40| 2.53| 1.21| 1.15| 5.3 |0.83 1.6 bean meal | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 14.88 bean | | | | | | | | | | straw | 55.76|16.34|1,036| 5.45| 0.11| 1.41| 0.67| 0.64| 3.83|0.3 | | | | | | | | | | 16.90 meadow | | | | | | | | | | hay | 36.26|15.14|1,042| 7.91| 1.30| 1.73| 0.91| 0.92| 4.37|3.3 --------------+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----

The varying quantity of urea (from 1.6 to 15.4 ounces) is most suggestive as to the action of the more or less nitrogenous feed and the resulting concentration of the urine and blood. Hippuric acid, on the other hand, is most abundant when the animal is fed on hay and straw.

The specific gravity of the urine of cattle varies from 1,030 to 1,060 in health, water being 1,000. It is transparent, with a yellowish tinge, and has a characteristic, musky smell. The chemical reaction is alkaline, turning red litmus paper blue. The quantity passed in twenty-four hours varies greatly, increasing not only with the water drunk, but with the albuminoids taken in with the feed and the urea produced. If a solution of urea is injected into the veins the secretion of urine is greatly augmented. Similarly the excess of salts like carbonate of potash in the feed, or of sugar, increases the action of the kidneys. Only about 20 per cent of the water swallowed escapes in the urine, the remaining 80 per cent passing mostly from the lungs, and to a slight extent by the bowels. The skin of the ox does not perspire so readily nor so freely as that of the horse; hence the kidneys and lungs are called upon for extra work. The influence of an excess of water in the feed is most remarkable in swill-fed distillery cattle, which urinate profusely and frequently, yet thrive and fatten rapidly.

Among the other conditions that increase the flow of urine is overfilling of (internal pressure in) the blood vessels of the kidneys; hence the contraction of the blood vessels of the skin by cold drives the blood inward, tends to dilate the blood vessels of the kidneys, and to increase the secretion of urine. Nervous disorders, such as excitement, fear, congestions, or structural injuries to the back part of the base of the brain, have a similar result, hence, doubtless, the action of certain fungi growing in musty hay or oats in producing profuse flow of urine, whereas other forms of musty fodder cause stupor, delirium, or paralysis. Bacteria and their products are mainly expelled by the kidneys, and become sources of local infection, irritation, and disease.

The quantity of urine passed daily by an ox on dry feeding averages 7 to 12 pints, but this may be increased enormously on a watery diet.

The mutual influence of the kidneys and other important organs tends to explain the way in which disease in one part supervenes on preexisting disorder in another. The introduction of albuminoids in excess into the blood means the formation of an excess of urea, and a more profuse secretion of urine, of a higher specific gravity, and with a greater tendency to deposit its solid constituents, as gravel, in the kidneys or bladder. A torpid action of the liver, leaving the albuminoids in transition forms, less soluble than the urea into which they should have been changed, favors the onset of rheumatism or of nervous disorder, the deposit of such albuminoid products in the kidneys, the formation of a deep-brown or reddish urine, and congestion of the kidneys. Any abnormal activity of the liver in the production of sugar--more than can be burned up in the circulation--overstimulates the kidneys and produces increased flow of a heavy urine with a sweetish taste. This increased production of sugar may be primarily due to disease of the brain, which, in its turn, determines the disorder of the liver. Disease of the right side of the heart or of the lungs, by obstructing the onward flow of blood from the veins, increases the blood pressure in the kidneys and produces disorder and excessive secretion. Inactivity of the kidneys determines an increase in the blood of waste products, which become irritating to different parts, producing skin eruptions, itching, dropsies, and nervous disorders. Sprains of the loins produce bleeding from the kidneys and disease of the spinal cord, and sometimes determine albuminous or milky looking urine.