New Light On Treating Sick Cows

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 17, 8 November 1948, Page 3

New Light On Treating Sick Cows

It was not many years ago that all sick cows, regardless of their ailment, got a whopping big dose of Epsom or Glauber salts, reports an American farm journal. Lots of them survived this ordeal, but there is no doubt but that the salts helped some of them towards cow heaven, instead of away from it.

In our experience, true constipation, as we recognise it in humans, horses or dogs, is rather a rare disease of cattle. However, impaction of the paunch and the third stom ach it is quite common. So is catarrhal inflammation of the intestines. In these cases, science has no support for the salt .purges as corrective measures for this trouble.

Salts act by drawing fluid from the blood and tissues into the intestine, thus liquefying the fecal mass. If a sick cow is suffering from dehydration (shrink) a dose of salts simply makes matters worse for her instead of better.

' /• i- - *> ©*•-- — vqmrr*rr' m rsgz. J 2&'+ ' •'• *- • 4 *‘ e • r - v *«--'t2li “There is a distinct trend among veterinarians to use bland oil through a stomach tube; to give quick-acting paunch stimulants such as carbamyl choline, and to hold the salts in reserve for those special cases where such drugs seem indicated, the American journal adds.