Front matter
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Preface
The author of this work, though not a veterinary surgeon, believes he can claim some special qualifications for its preparation. Brought up on a farm, practicing medicine in a rural locality,, and, as is the wont with country doctors, often consulted about the diseases of domestic animals, he has bought and read the best books on the subject, and here presents the combined result of his study and observation.
While the work has been written in language free from technicalities, and directly for the use of the farmer and stock owner, the endeavor has been made to render it scientifically exact, and a true exponent of the latest and most accurate research. Comparatively little space has been given to pathology, as this branch can only be studied by experts ; but on treatment the work is very full, because this is so much neglected in most books, and yet is precisely what the general reader desires.
As will be seen, free use has been made of the works of Professor William Williams, Finlay Dun, John Gamgee, George Armitage, Dr. Klein, and other British authors ; and of the writings of Law, Townshend, Chawner, Detmers, Moks, Harr*: <, etc., of our own country.
Part I „ General Principles Of Veterinary Medicine
CHAPTER I. page.
REMARKS OK THE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
The Brain and Nervous System; The Organs of Breathing; The Organs of Digestion ; The Heart, Blood Vessels and Absorbents ; The Kidneys and Sex Organs ; The Reproductive Acts, 17
Chapter II. Nursing, Care And Diet Of Sick Animals
Separation and Stabling ; Disinfection ; Rest and Sleep ; Cleansing and Dressing ; Position, Slings and Cradles ; Pood and Drink ; Special Diet Preparations, ... 27
Chapter III. Forms Of Medicines, And Methods Of Their Administration
List of Forms and Methods ; Medication by the Mouth ; Injections into the Nose ; Medication by the Rectum and Vagina ; Medication by the Blood Vessels ; External Methods of Medication ; "Weights and Measures, and their Domestic Equivalents
Chapter IV. Page
VETERINARY SURGICAL INSTRUMENTS AND MINOR SURGICAL OPERATIONS
The Veterinary Pocket Case and its Contents ; Preparations for Operating ; Bleeding ; Setons ; Firing ; Sutures ; Operations on the Teeth ; Blistering, • . - . . 58
Chapter V. General Rules For Recognizing And Distinguishing Diseases
The Pulse ; The Breathing ; The Animal Heat ; The Skin and Hair ; The Posture ; Indications of Pain ; Special Signs in Cattle; Signs of Diseases of Particular Organs, . . H
Part II. The Diseases Of The Horse
General Remarks on the Diseases of the Horse,
Chapter I. Diseases Of The Brain And Nervous System
Congestion and Inflammation of the Brain ; Phrenitis ; Mad, Blind or Sleepy Staggers, ...
Cerebro-spinal Meningitis,
Convulsive Diseases or Fits ; Apoplexy ; Epilepsy ; Falling Sickness ; St. Vitus’ Dance or Stringhalt, . ,
Megrims; Vertigo; Giddiness,
Sunstroke,
91 93
Contents.
Paralysis or Palsy, Tetanus or Lockjaw, Hydrophobia,
PAGE.
Chapter II. Diseases Of The Breathing Organs
Cautions in Treating Diseases of the Breathing Organs, Cold in the Head ; Catarrh, •
Nasal Gleet ; Running from the Nose,.
Cold in the Chest ; Bronchitis ; Chronic Cough,
Influenza ; The Epizootic ; Contagious Catarrhal Fever ;
Sore Throat; Laryngitis; Pharyngitis,
Inflammation of the Lungs; Lung Fever; Pneumonia,
Pleurisy, . • • • * '
Heaves ; Broken Wind ; Emphysematous Asthma, Roaring ; High Blowing ; Thick Wind ; Whistling,
P nk
CHAPTER HI.
DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF- DIGESTION.
General Remarks on Diseases of the Digestive Organs, .
Local Inflammation in and around the Mouth ; Lampas ; Vives ; Barbs and Paps; Tender and Bleeding Gums; Decayed Teeth ; Tooth Cough, • • • '
Indigestion and Dyspepsia, •
Cribbing ; Crib-biting ; Wind-sucking,
Colic ; The Gripes, . • . ■ ' *
Tympany ; Flatulent Colic ; Tympanites ; Swollen Belly,
Constipation ; Costiveness, . •
Diarrhea ; Scouring, . • •
Inflammation of the Bowels ; Enteritis,
Dysentery; Bloody Flux; Colitis, . •
Congestion and Inflammation of the Liver ; Hepatitis ; Jaundice ;
The Yellows, ...
The Bots, ..••
131 134
137 140 143
Contents.
Chapter IV. Diseases Of The Heart, Blood Vessels And Absorbents
Palpitation ; Violent Heart Beat ; Thumps, .
Enlargement or Hypertrophy of the Heart, .
Fatty Degeneration of the Heart,
Aneurism ; Enlargement of the Arteries,
Inflammation of the Jugular Vein ; Phlebitis,
Inflammation of the Absorbent Vessels ; Lymphangitis ; Weed ; Shot of Grease, . .
Chapter V. Debases Of The Kidneys, Bladder And Sex Organs
Inflammation of the Kidneys,
Inflammation of the Bladder,
Stone in the Bladder ; Gravel,
Retention or Suppression of Urine; Strangury; Difficult or Painful Staleing, .....
Diabetes ; Profuse Staleing,
Black Water in Horses ; Hmmaturia ; Azoturia,
Diseases of the Sex Organs ; Contraction of the Sheath ; External Inflammation of the Yard ; Internal Inflammation of fhe Yard ; Inflammation of the Vagina, ,
Chapter VI. General Diseases, And Diseases Of The Blood
Glanders,
Farcy ; Bud Farcy ; Button Farcy, .
Charbon in the Horse ; Purpura Hemorrhagica ; Spotted Fever, ....
Rheumatism,
Strangles ; Colt Distemper,
Erysipelas ; St. Anthony’s Fire, . . ^
Dropsy; Ascites, ....
PAGE.
160 161
Contents.
the the
PAGE.
Chapter VII. Diseases Of The Foot Of The House
Structure of the Foot of the Horse, • • •
Lameness in the Horse ; How to Detect Lameness ; How to Ascertain tlie Cause of tlie Lameness, . •
Inflammation of the Feet; Laminitis; Founder; Fever m the
Feet, '
Thrush or Frush of the Frog,
Punctured Wounds of the Feet,; Prickings; Gathered Nails
Sand Crack, ..••••
False Quarter,
Quittor; Fistula of the Coronet; Fibro- Chondritis of
Navicular Disease ; Grogginess ; Contraction of the Foot,
Scratches; Mud Fever ; Cracked Heels ; Erythema of Heels, . • • • •
Grease ; Eczema of the Heels,
Chapter VIII. Diseases Of The Leg
Inflammation of the Bones, ...
Sore Shins ; Inflammation of the Metacarpal Bones, .
Splints or Splents, •
Ring Bones, . • ■ • * ,
Bog Spavin ; Blood Spavin ; Inflammation of the Hock Joint,
Bone Spavin, .
Thorough-pin, .
Capped Hock, . • • * *
Side Bones,
Chapter IX. Wounds And Injuries, And Their Results
The General Treatment of Wounds ; To Check Bleeding ; Cleaning the Wound ; Restoring the Position of the Parts ; To Prevent Inflammation, . • •
218 219 221 222 222
Contents.
Sprains or Strains, .....
Strains of the Shoulder and Leg ; Rheumatic Joint ; Sprain of the Flexor Muscles ; Shoulder Slip ; Sprain of the Back Sinews, or Flexor Tendons, ......
Injuries of the Foot and Lower Leg; Interfering; Overreach;
Tread, or Calking ; Speedy Cut ; Brushing,
Wounds of the Knees ; Broken Knees,
Elbow Sprain ; Elbow Lameness, ....
Breaking Down ; Strain or Rupture of the Suspensory Ligaments, Wind-galls, .....
Curb ; Sprain of the Calcaneo-cuboid Ligaments,
Poll Evil, .....
Fistulous Withers, ....
Rotten Bone ; Necrosis and Caries of Bones, .
Frostbite, .....
Burns and Scalds, ....
Stings and Bites, ....
Hernia ; Rupture ; Burst,
Choking, .....
Chapter X. Diseases Op The Eyes
Inflammation of the Eyes ; Conjunctivitis, Periodic Ophthalmia ; Moon Blindness,
White Spot ; Eye Spot ; Albugo,
Chapter XI. Diseases Of The Skin
Ringworm, .......
Nettle Rash ; Surfeit ; Urticaria, ....
Moist Tetter ; Humid Tetter ; Eczema,
Mallenders and Sallenders ; Psoriasis of the Carpus and the Tarsus, . . . . . ...
Warbles; Grubs; Sitfasts, .....
Mange ; Itch, .......
Lice,
PAGE.
249 251
258 260
Contents.
Part III. Diseases Of Cattle, Sheep And Swine
INTRODUCTORY.
PAGE.
General Remarks on tlie Diseases of Cattle, and their Treat-
. • 263
ment, ' * •
Peculiarities of the Action of Medicines on Cattle, . - ^bb
Chapter I. The Contagious Or Epidemic Diseases Of Cattle
The Cattle Plague; Rinderpest; Contagious Enteric Fever of Cattle,
Pleuro-Pneumonia 5 Contagions Lung Fever,
Foot and Mouth Disease ; Epizootic Aphthae ; Contagious Ec-
Charbon ; Black Quarter ; Quarter 111 ; Contagious Anthrax ;
Bloody Murrain,
SplenicFever; Texas Cattle Disease ; Spanish Fever, Cow-pox; Smallpox of Cattle ; Yariola Vaccina,
CHAPTER II. ‘ NON-CONTAGIOUS and local diseases of cattle
Catarrh; Colds; Coughs; Snores; Snivels,
Consumption ; Wasting ; Pining, •
Hollow Horn; Horn- ail ; Anaemia of Cattle, ..
Hoven ; Blown ; Impaction of the Rumen or First Stomach, . Fardel-hound; Maw-bound; Stomach Staggers; Impaction of the Omasum or Third Stomach ; Gastritis of Ruminants ; Lakeburn, .
Contents.
Obstruction of the Bowels, ..... 297
Congestion and Inflammation of the Liver ; The Yellows, . 298
Bed TV ater j Black Water j Bloody Urine, . . , 30O
Dysentery ; Bloody Flux ; Scouring Bot, . . , 302
Milk Sickness ; The Trembles, . . . .304
Rheumatism ; Felon, ...... 306
Foul in the Foot; Foul Claw, ..... 308
Lice, Ticks and other Vermin, ..... 3x0
Chapter III. Diseases Of The Cow In' Pregnancy And Calving
Barrenness or Sterility, ..... 313
Abortion ; Slinking ; Slipping ; Dropping the Calf, . . 315
Calving or Parturition ; Rigid Neck of the Womb ; Bending of
the Neck of the Womb, ..... 318
Unnatural Positions of the Calf, .... 320
Flooding,
Retained After-birth, ...... 323
Inversion of the Womb, ..... 323
Medical Treatment of Calving, .... 325
Management of the Milk ; To Dry the Milk ; To Bring on or
Increase. the Milk ; To Correct Bloody and Blue Milk, . 327
Milk Fever ; Puerperal Fever ; Parturient Fever ; Parturient
Apoplexy ; Inflammation of the Womb, . . . 329
Garget ; Caked Bag ; Mammitis, .... 333
Chapter IV. Diseases Of Calves
First Attentions,
Diarrhea or Scouring, ...... 336
Epidemic Colic ; The Shoote or Shewte of Blood, . . 338
CronP ' . 338
The Husk or Hoose ; Parasitic Bronchitis, . . . 339
Contents.
PAGE.
Chapter V. Diseases Of Sheep
General Remarks on Diseases of Sheep, and their Treatment, .
Braxy; Striking of the Blood; Charbon in Sheep,
Sheep Smallpox; Variola Ovina, ....
Louping 111 ; Thorter 111 ; The Gnaw Disease,
Malignant Epizootic Catarrh ; The Sheep Distemper, .
Colic ; Blown ; Blast ; Wind Dropsy, ....
Red Water ; HEematuria, .....
Hoof Rot; Foot Rot, ......
Foul in the Foot, ......
Stone in the Bladder,
Lambinginthe Ewe; Heaving Pains; Milk Fever; Garget, Rheumatism of Lambs, ...••• Constipation in Lambs, ...••• Diarrhea in Lambs, ......
Turnsick ; Sturdy ; Gid ; Hydatid of the Brain,
Sheep Bots ; Grubs in the Head ; Head Maggots,
Lung Worms ; The Hoose in Lambs ; White Skin ; Paper Skin ; Pelt Rot ; The Pale Disease, ....
The Rot ; The Liver Fluke, .
The Scab ; The Mange or Itch in Sheep,
362 365 368 368 371
375 379
Chapter VI. Diseases Of Swine
General Remarks on Diseases of Swine,
Hog Cholera, so-called, and its Varieties,
Charbon in Swine ; Malignant Anthrax ; Carbuneular Disease ; White Bristle, ......
Contagious Pneumo-enteritis ; Red Soldier ; The Blue Disease : Purples, . . • • •
Malignant Epizootic Catarrh, .
Apoplexy and Staggers, .
Coughs, Colds, Quinsy, and Inflammation of the Lungs, Diarrheal Diseases ; Scours, . . • •
404 406
-1 4 Contents.
Ague Cake ; Milt Swelling ; Splenitis, . . . 407
Leprosy,
Trichinosis, . 4qq
Hydatids of the Kidneys ; Kidney "Worms ; Lard Worms, . 410
Measles,
The Mange, Itch, or Scab, . . . . , 412
PART IY.
HYGIENE AND MEDICINE.
Chapter I. Hygiene Of The Horse, And Of Fattening
Hygiene of the Horse, 417
Condition Powders, .....
Disinfection, .....
Hygienic Rules for Fattening Animals, . . . 422
Cattle Powders and Condimental Food, . , t 494
Diets for Fattening, .... 495
Chapter II. Poisons And The Treatment Op Poisoning
General Rules for the Treatment of Poisoning, , . 427
Vegetable Poisons ; Aloes; Castor and Croton Seeds’; Diseased and Spoiled Foods ; Eupatorium ; Hellebore ; Laurel ; Poisonous Mushrooms ; Opium ; Ranunculus ; Savin ; St.
John’s Wort; Tobacco; Turpentine ; Stramonium, . 428
Mineral and Chemical Poisons; Acids; Alkalies; Alcohol; Arsenic; Brine; Corrosive Sublimate; Creasote ; Lead; Mercury ; Strychnine ; Tartar Emetic, . . . 434
Contents.
PAGE.
Chapter Iii-. The More Important Drugs And Medicines Used For Animals
Alphabetical List of the Most Useful Drugs, with their Doses, Forms of Administration and Formulas,
Classified List of Drugs, according to their Action on the System, with Explanations, • •
Chapter I. ■rem A Tuts Os The As Atomy Asd Physiology Of Domestic Animals
The Brain and Nervous System — The Organs of Breathing — The Organs of Digestion — The Heart, Blood-vessels and Absorbents — The Kidneys and Sex Organs — The Reproductive Acts.
When one undertakes to repair a machine he should know something about its construction • and in like manner an acquaintance with anatomy and physiology is justly deemed necessary to the proper treatment of diseases.
It is not, however, our purpose to enter into those abstruse sciences to any great extent ; but it will be profitable to consider in broad outlines, and in language free from technicalities, the structure and functions of the four species of animals, the horse, cattle, the sheep and the hog, whose diseases it is our main purpose to describe in the pages of this book. In doing so we shall proceed in the same order in which the diseases themselves will be classified when we: come in turn to study them.
(17) 2
THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM.
The cavity of the skull is filled with the brain, which is the organ of intelligence, of voluntary motion, and of the senses. The impressions on the senses are conveyed to the brain by the nerves, delicate branches of which are found in every part of the body. These branches unite and increase in size as we follow them up, until they reach -what may be called the parent stem, which is the spinal cord, occupying the cavity in the backbone. This is attached to the brain at its base, so that every nerve fibre connects directly with the brain itself.
The nerves of sight, of hearing, of taste and smell are adapted to convey the impressions of these senses only.
In addition to this chief system of nerves, called the “ eerebro-spinal ” system, there is a lesser one, known as the “ sympathetic ” nerve system, winch is distributed chiefly to the deep lying organs in the chest and abdomen, and to the blood-vessels. It is supposed to control the involuntary motions of those organs.
The brain of the horse is small for his weight and the size of his head, weighing about thirty ounces, which is less than the smallest sized adult brain in man ; while the brain of the ox is still less, weighing about one-half that of the horse.
As it is so much less active an organ in the lower animals, it is much less apt to become diseased than in the human race. When its surfaces become inflamed, it leads to “ mad staggers,” a sort of delirium ; and when with this the spinal cord is attacked, the disease is that fatal and epidemic one known as “ eerebro-spinal meningitis.” Pressure of blood on the brain either by overfilling of the blood-vessels or by their bursting produces a stupid dull condition, passing at times into complete unconsciousness, as we witness in “ sleepy staggers,” sunstroke and apoplexy.
Pf
The Breathing Organs. 19
The nerves respond to the diseased condition of the brain either by excessive and violent action,, as displayed in the spasms of megrims, epilepsy, lockjaw and hydrophobia ; or else by a more or less complete loss of their power of conveying sensation and motion, as in the varieties of palsy.
What physicians call “ diseases of the mind,” as insanity and idiocy, do not seem to occur in the lower animals; although instances are recorded where horses have apparently deliberately committed suicide, which would appear to be an evidence of hypochondria.
THE ORGANS OP BREATHING.
These consist of the lungs, and the tubes through which air is conducted into them. The lungs are composed of millions of little sacs or vesicles, each vesicle opening into a minute tube, which tubes unite to form others of larger calibre, called bronchi; and finally all the bronchi join the lower end of the windpipe or trachea, which continues up the throat to the mouth. The lungs do not lie immediately against the walls of the chest, but against a close membranous sac called the pleura, which lies between the lungs and the ribs.
The act of breathing differs in frequency in different animals. In the horse it averages in health ten or twelve times a minute, in the ox twelve or fourteen times, in man sixteen or eighteen times. It should also be quiet and regular, and any deviation from these natural conditions is justly regarded with suspicion. A. warranted horse is held to be especially guaranteed “ in wind and limb,” any defect of the breathing organs being mentioned first as of first importance.
When the minute vesicles of the lungs are inflamed we have the disease called inflammation of the lungs, lung fever or pneumonia; when the inflammation is in the tubes or
General Principles of Veterinary Medicine.
bronchi, it is called bronchitis ; when in the upper windpipe, sore throat. Pleurisy is an inflammation of the membranous sac we have described as the pleura. Asthma, roaring, thick wind, broken wind, heaves and other disorders of the breathing arise from alterations in the nerves and tissues of these organs ; while consumption, although a general disease of the system, most frequently, both in men and horses, leads early to a softening and breaking down of the substance of the lungs.
THE ORGAN'S OP DIGESTION-.
These include much more than the stomach and bowels. The digestion of food really begins in the mouth, where it is ground by the teeth and altered by the chemical action of the saliva. Therefore we include under this heading, the mouth, teeth, throat, gullet, stomach and bowels.
It is in this part of the system that the herbivorous animals differ most from those which eat flesh only, and those which eat both flesh and vegetable food. The chemical processes which can convert dry hay to rich blood and firm flesh are wondrously complicated and require an extensive laboratory. This is furnished by a remarkable length of intestine and generally by several stomachs. In man the intestines are six or seven times longer than his body ; in the pig they are thirteen times longer ; in the sheep they are twenty-eight times ; in the ox twenty-two times ; in the horse but ten times the length of the body. Yet this gives the horse an intestinal tube ninety feet long, and capable of containing more than a barrel of fluid.
The teeth, in both the horse and the ox, as in the child, appear at first in a temporary set called “ milk teeth,” which are followed by permanent ones, the change being completed in both animals about the fifth year of life. The horse has forty teeth, the ox and man thirty-two. As in the human
Ch'gans of Digestion.
mouth, there are in the horse three kinds of teeth, the front teeth or incisors, called the “nippers; the canine teeth, called “tushes;” and the molar teeth, called “grinders.” The appearance of the teeth and the amount of wear they disclose, enable those acquainted with their development to decide positively of the age of a horse within one year up to nine years of age. But a discussion of this subject does not come within our province.
The horse has but one stomach, while the os and the sheep have each four. They are in both animals known by the same names. The first is the paunch or rumen ; the second is the honeycomb or kingshood ; the third is the manyplies or omasum ; the fourth is the red, the rennet or the abomasum. The first three communicate with the gullet by a common opening. The “ cud ” is contained in the first and second stomachs, and after it has been masticated a second time it passes to the third and fourth, and to the bowels, to undergo the further process of digestion.
This is accomplished by the peculiar action upon it of the secretion of the fourth stomach or rennet, an action familiarly known by the use of rennet in the kitchen, and of “pepsin” in medicine, which is obtained directly from this stomach ; and after it passes into the bowels by the secretions of the liver and pancras or sweet bread.
Thus prepared, it comes into contact in the long course of the bowels — two hundred feet nearly in the ox — with countless little absorbing points called “villi,” which take up the food now changed to a large extent to a thick fluid, leaving the insoluble and undigested portions to continue down the tube to the rectum or anus, whence they are periodically discharged as feces or dung.
As may readily be conceived, this intricate and delicate process is easily disturbed, and hence loss of appetite, impaired digestion, and irregularity of the bowels accompany nearly every disease on tire catalogue. Improper food, and too little or too much exercise bring on indigestion or dyspepsia, in 'which complaint there may be one or another form of disturbance. Colic, gripes or hoven is an accumulation of air or gas in the stomach or bowels, painfully stretching their walls. Scouring is a too free and watery action of the intestines ; dysentery and enteritis are when the intestines are inflamed; and obstruction occurs when through hair-balls, rupture or twistings their passage is choked up.
THE HEART, BLOOD-VESSELS AND ABSORBENTS.
The digested food, we have seen above, is taken up in the intestines in the shape of a milky fluid by innumerable absorbent points or villi. What do they do with it ? They pour it into the absorbent vessels or lymphatics, which empty into larger and larger ones, and so on until the whole of the nutritive fluid is collected into one great duct or tube, which extends forward and pours its life-giving contents into the large veins at the base of the neck, whence it is conveyed, to the heart and enters the general circulation of the blood.
And this circulation, what is meant by it? It means that the blood is drawn in and driven out of the heart by its powerful throbs, with such force and rapidity that the whole of it in the body makes the circuit of the system in less than three minutes, washing out the dead and worn out particles, discharging them by the lungs, kidney and liver, and purging and brightening itself in the fresh air drawn in by the lungs for another such rapid and purifying race.
The parts concerned in this circulation are the heart, the arteries and the veins. The arteries lead from the heart; the blood they carry is bright red, and it flows in waves, felt on the pulse, and shown when an artery is cut by the blood spouting in jets or spurts. The veins lead to the heart : the
The Course of the Blood.
blood they carry is dark red, and it flows in a steady, regular stream. The arteries divide and subdivide into innumerable branches, diminishing to a size where it takes the strongest microscope to discover them, which are collected again into larger and larger branches to form the veins.
These smallest divisions are the capillaries, and it is while in them that the blood alters in color from a bright to a dark red, by undergoing the changes necessary to keep up the life of the tissues through which it flows.
Thus the blood is returned to the heart dark and dull, and loaded with worn out matter. It enters the right side of the heart, which has two cavities wholly separate from two similar ones on the left side. It is at once driven to the lungs, where it is spread over the delicate thin walls of millions of vesicles and exposed to the air inhaled at each act of breathing; it throws out carbonic acid gas, absorbs oxygen, and returns to the left side of the heart fresh and bright once more, and ready to recommence its journey. And so it continues its endless round till death stops it forever.
In the human race diseases of the heart and blood-vessels are common, but in the lower animals they are rare. No doubt the erect position of man, which demands heavier labor from the heart, is partly a cause of this; another is his greater nervous excitability, and his intemperance. In both species, inflammatory rheumatism is often followed by a change in the valves and walls of the heart.
Practically, it is of great importance to be able to distinguish bleeding from arteries from bleeding from veins by the color of the blood. For venous bleeding will usually cease by simple measures ; but arterial bleeding requires the ligature.
When the amount and quality of the food is largely in excess of the needs of the system for repairing its waste by exercise, the blood is said to be “ too rich,” and the animal increases in fat, and may become sluggish and torpid. This state of plethora or “ over-condition,” though not actually a disease, is not one of the most perfect health ; and though it suits well for stall-fed steers, it is injurious to milk-cows and work or racing horses. It is counteracted by lower diet, more exercise, a brisk purge, and in racers by the process of “ sweating ” them under the saddle and sweat-cloths.
THE KIDNEYS AND SEX ORGANS.
The kidneys are the organs which secrete the urine from the blood. The fluid flows from them through a duct into the bladder, whence it is expelled from time to time. The urine of horses has a peculiar, strong unpleasant odor, and a bitter, salty taste; the urine of cattle is clear, of a pale yellow color, of a bitter taste, and a strong alkaline reaction. The urine of the sheep and the pig resembles that of cattle.
The sex organs in the male horse are the sheath, the yard and the testicles. In the gelding and the steer, the latter are removed by the operation of castration.
In the female the sex organs are the uterus or womb with its appendages, the ovaries and the vagina, which is the passage which conducts to the womb. In mares this is about eighteen inches long. In the operation of spaying, the ovaries are removed, which renders the female barren, and usually destroys her sexual desires.
These desires in the female lower animals are only manifested, when in health, on certain periodical occasions, known as the “ oestrum,” when the animal is said to be “ in heat.” This is manifested by restlessness, calling the male, signs of congestion and irritation about the sex organs, and by the discharge of a fluid from the Vagina, which is said to have a characteristic and penetrating odor in the highest degree exciting to the perfect male.
Breeding In-and-in.
The mammary glands or udder is an appendage of the sex organs in the female. It is brought into action after fertile connection and reproduction have been accomplished — though the secretion of milk is possible without these.
Although the horse, ox and sheep are strictly herbivorous animals, they live, when young, on animal food in the form of milk ; and it is the desire by man to partake of this food that leads him to give so much attention to the breeding of cows in this country and of mares in Asia.
The diseases of these organs form a very important class. Disturbances of the urinary secretion are by no means uncommon in our domestic animals. Diabetes or excessive urination is a familiar example; “red water” and “black water ” are known in both horses and cows ; and inflamma- . tory affections of the bladder and kidneys, though not frequent, are always troublesome.
With regard to the sex organs, the difficulties and complications of pregnancy and parturition demand careful studyon the part of the stock owner ; and disorders of the udder, the treatment of milk fever, and the management of newborn calves are subjects with which every one having the care of domestic animals should make himself acquainted.
Another and important topic, which comes appropriately in this connection, is the effect on the health of stock of breeding in-and-in. As a predisposing cause to certain very dangerous diseases, it has not received in the United States, at least, the attention it should have.
The ill effects of close breeding are seen less in the horse, than in cattle and sheep. In cattle the extremities become delicate, the hair smooth and fine, the ears thin, and the general sensitiveness increased. The animal becomes more subject to various diseases, especially of the lungs, and to what are called “ clayers” in the throat. The English herd books give instances where once famous herds have degenerated and become extinct by persistent in-and-in breeding.
In sheep the effects are to produce fine and delicate extremities, to bare the head of wool, anu to render the ears thin and red. The animal becomes very susceptible to cold, and uncommonly subject to such diseases as flukes and foot rot.
THE REPRODUCTIVE ACTS.
In regard to the development of the reproductive powers, the domestic animals differ widely.
The mare begins to breed at four years of age and carries her young 340 clays from the time of conception to its natural delivery. She may safely be worked to within two weeks of that time, but should have rest for three or four weeks afterwards. The foal should be weaned at five or six months of age.
The youngest age at which the heifer should be put to the bull is laid down by the best English breeders at one year and eight months. She carries her young the same length of time as the human female, to wit, about nine months. The most favorable period for calving is in the spring. Eor five or six weeks previous to its occurrence her milk should be dried, and during the whole period of gestation, she should be underfed rather than overfed, too rich diet being a very common cause of abortion. The calf should have nothing but the teat for three or four weeks, when it may begin with skimmed milk, etc.
Both rams and ewes are ready to breed at fifteen months of age. The ewe carries her young one hundred and fiftytwo days. When born, it is often very delicate and requires the attentive care of the shepherd to survive.
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