Common Diseases of Farm Animals | Page 9

is removed by blistering,
absorption may take place. Liniments, blisters and poultices are the
preparations used.
Volatile drugs, such as chloroform and ether, are absorbed quickly by
the enormous vascular surface of the lungs. This class of drugs is
administered for the purpose of producing general anaesthesia.
Anaesthetics are indispensable in many surgical operations.
The administration of a drug in the form of medicated steam is quite
useful in combating some respiratory diseases. In steaming large
animals a pail about half full of boiling-hot water to which has been
added about an ounce of coal-tar disinfectant, or whatever drug is
required, is held within about one foot of the animal's nostrils. It is
usually advisable to throw a light cover over the head and pail in order
to direct the steam toward the nostrils. Dogs can be placed on a
cane-seated chair and a pail or pan of boiling-hot water placed under it,
and a sheet thrown over all.
Drugs are administered by way of the rectum when the animal can not
be drenched, or the drug can not be given in any other way and when a
local action is desired. An enema or clyster is a fluid injection into the
rectum and is employed for the following purposes: to accelerate the
action of a purgative; to stimulate the peristaltic movement of the
intestines; to kill intestinal parasites; to reduce body temperature; to
administer medicine; and to supply the animal with food. An enema
may be administered by allowing water to gravitate into the rectum
from a height of two or three feet or by using an injection pump. In the
larger animals several feet of heavy walled rubber tubing carrying a
straight nozzle at one end should be used. In administering an enema,
the rectum should be emptied out with the hand and the nozzle of the

syringe carried as far forward as possible. The operator should be
careful not to irritate or tear the wall of the rectum.
Size of the Dose.--The doses recommended in the treatment of the
different diseases, unless otherwise stated, are for mature animals. The
dose for a colt one year of age is about one-third the quantity given the
adult, two years of age one-half, and three years of age two-thirds. In
well-matured colts a larger dose may be given. In cattle, the doses
recommended are about the same. In the smaller animals the size of the
dose may be based on the development and age of the animal. When
the drug is administered at short intervals or repeated, the size of the
dose should be reduced. The physiological action of some drugs may
be changed by varying the size of the dose.
QUESTIONS
1. Give a general description of preventive treatment.
2. By what channels may drugs be administered?
3. How are drenches administered?
4. How are solid drugs administered?
5. What kind of drugs are administered hypodermically?
6. What is an enema?
7. What proportion of the dose of a drug recommended for the adult
may be given to immature animals?

PART II.--NON-SPECIFIC OR GENERAL
DISEASES

CHAPTER IV
DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
The organs that form the digestive tract are the mouth, pharynx,
oesophagus, stomach, intestines and the annexed glands, viz.: the
salivary, liver, and pancreas. The development of these organs differs
in the different species of animals. For example, solipeds possess a
small, simple stomach and capacious, complicated intestines. Just the
opposite is true of ruminants. The different species of ruminants
possess a large, complicated stomach, and comparatively simple
intestines. In swine we meet with a more highly developed stomach
than that of solipeds and a more simple intestinal tract. Of all domestic
animals the most simple digestive tract occurs in the dog. These
variations in the development of the different organs of digestion,
together with the difference in the character of the feed and method of
feeding, cause a variation in the kind of diseases met with in the
different species. The complicated stomach of ruminants predispose
them to diseases of this portion of the digestive tract. Because of their
complicated intestinal tract solipeds are prone to intestinal disease.
DISEASES OF THE MOUTH
GENERAL DISCUSSION.--The mouth is the first division of the
digestive tract. It is formed by the lips, cheeks, palate, soft palate,
tongue and teeth. Here the feed is acted on mechanically. It is broken
up by the teeth and moved about until mixed with the saliva and put
into condition to pass through the pharynx and along the oesophagus to
the stomach. The mechanical change that the feed is subject to is very
imperfect in dogs. In the horse it is a slow, thorough process, although
greedy feeders are not uncommon. The first mastication in the ox is
three times quicker than in horses, but