Common Diseases of Farm Animals | Page 7

necessary in order to be able to recognize or diagnose disease? 2. What are the general symptoms of disease?
3. What are the subjective symptoms of disease?
4. Describe method of taking the pulse beat in the different animals and its character in health and disease.
5. Give the ratio of the heart beats to the respirations in the different species of animals.
6. What are the normal body temperatures in the different domestic animals?
7. What are the visible mucous membranes?
8. Is the condition of the coat and skin any help in the recognition of disease?

CHAPTER III
TREATMENT
Preventive Treatment.--The subject of preventive medicine becomes more important as our knowledge of the cause of disease advances. A knowledge of feeds, methods of feeding, care, sanitation and the use of such biological products as bacterins, vaccines and protective serums is of the greatest importance to the farmer and veterinarian. We are beginning to realize that one of the most important secrets of profitable and successful stock raising is the prevention of disease; that the agricultural colleges are doing a great work in helping to teach farmers that there are right and wrong methods of feeding and caring for animals; that the practice of sanitation in caring for animals is the cheapest method of treating disease; and that it is advisable to practise radical methods of control, when necessary, in order to rid the herd of an infectious disease.
The ration fed and the method of feeding are not only important in considering the causes of diseases of the digestive tract, but diseases of other organs as well. The feeding of an excessive, or insufficient quantity of feed, or a ration that is too concentrated, bulky and innutritious, poor in quality, or spoiled may produce disease.
An impure water supply is a common cause of disease. A deep well that is closed in properly and does not permit of contamination from filth, does not insure a clean water supply if the trough or tank is not kept clean.
Farm Buildings.--If stockmen would make a more careful study of the kind of farm buildings most suitable to their needs, the selection of the location, the proportions, the arrangement of the interior and the lighting and ventilation, there would be a great saving in losses from disease, and the cost of building in many cases would be lessened. Your neighbor's building that you have taken for your model may not be suitable for your needs. It may be more expensive than your financial condition permits. It may be poorly lighted and ventilated and not suited to the site that you have selected.
Biological Products.--There are a number of biological products that may be used in the prevention and control of disease. Some of these products, such as tuberculin and malein, enable the owner to rid his herds of tubercular cows and glandered horses before these diseases have become far enough advanced to be recognized by the visible symptoms alone. Black leg, anthrax and hog-cholera vaccines are valuable agents in the control of disease. In the treatment of fistula and infectious abortion, bacterins may be used. There are many other germ diseases and infections for which vaccines and bacterins may be used. However, we must not depend wholly on these agents in the control of disease. We must possess a knowledge of the manner in which the infection is spread, for without this knowledge we would be unable to prevent its dissemination over a wide area.
Medicinal Treatment.--The average stockman or veterinarian is more familiar with the treatment of disease with drugs than he is with the preventive measures just described. This statement does not imply that a knowledge of medicinal therapeutics is not of the greatest importance in the treatment of disease. The ultimate object of all drugs is both to prevent and cure disease, but the injudicious use of a drug does neither. A discussion of this subject cannot be entered into here, and because of its largeness it is not advisable to discuss it further than a brief summary of the methods of administering drugs.
Administration of Drugs.--Drugs may be administered by the following channels: by way of the mouth, in the feed or as a drench; by injecting into the tissues beneath the skin or hypodermically; by rubbing into the skin; by the air passages and the lungs; and by injecting into the rectum.
If the animal is not too sick to eat and the drug does not possess an unpleasant taste, it may be given with the feed. If soluble, it may be given with the drinking water, or in any case, it may be mixed with ground feed if this method is to be preferred. In all cases the medicine must be well mixed with the feed. This is especially important if there are a number of animals to be treated, as