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A Case of Poisoning by Water Dropwort in Cattle
POISONING BY \VATER DROPWORT
443
The treatment consisted of the administration of one drachm of calomel twice daily, with frequent and vigorous grooming, and the dissolving in the drinking water of a rtificial Carlsbad salts. As the animal never drank any thing this was of course wasted . On the morning of th e econd d ay, as all glandular secretions appeared to be in abeyan ce a hypodermic inj ection of a recoline compound was g iven, with very little result. There was some slight sa li vation , and a few pellets of fc.eces. covered with mucus were passed but the patient's general condition remained the same. An attempt was m ade to administer a few doses of liq. ammonic.e acetatis and spts. c.etheris nit. as drench es but had to be abandoned as the animal was dangerous to drench. I therefore made up some balls containing sodii sa licylas of which I prescribed four drachms night a nd morning without h aving any effect on the tempera ture. Having seen a similar ca e die of supe r-purgation after the administration of a n aloe tic physic ball , m any years ago, I hesitated to adopt a ny drastic m easures although the icteric condition of the visible mucous membranes began to ca U for som £' vigorous bowel and liver stimulant. On the evening of the fourt h day of treatment I t ook the stomach pump and tube, and inj ected three gallons of water from the tank in t he stable yard (which had been well aerated a nd warmed . by the sun) by the nasal route , dissolving in this R4 grai ns of Dimol as an intestinal a ntiseptic. On the following morning the temperature had fallen to 102. 5°, the horse had ea ten a h ot mash , his bowels h ad acted , evacuating a la rge soft mass of fceces resembling a cow's, a nd his general condition l1ad greatly improved. The skin was warm a nd the mouth moist and clean. In the evening the temperature had fallen an oth er degree, and from that time his p rogress was uninterrupted and no furth er treatment was adopted. I am quite unable to acco unt for the symptoms. This was an apparently h ealthy horse, which had been in the stud for five years and h ad given no trouble. He had been in regul ar daily work and there was no sickness amongst the other horses.
A Case of Poisoning by Water Dropwort in Cattle. By F. BOOTH. M.R.C.V.S., Old Colwyn. CALLED on July 2nd, 1929, to see 5 cows at a dairy farm near Colwyn Bay, at 8 p.m. My son attended and found the 5 cows looking very depressed, purging freely, off food , extremities cold , t emperatures
444
THE VETERI ARY JOURNAL
varied from ]02 F . to 105 F., pulse trequen t and t hready , all seemed to suffer from abdominal pain and grunted . The history given by the owner was tha t he noticed t he cows running about in the field, some were very excited a nd wild, the weat he r was very hot a t the time and he put the'ir condition down to the heat, they were all driven to the buildings, where there was some sheUer. At milking time in the afternoon 5 of the cows were off t heir mi lk , trembling and in obvious pain , they were kept in a nd as they wen t worse, began t o purge , et c., we were sent for. Diagnosis, vegetable poison was suspected , hut owner was unable to give any help in the matter, he said that the pastures were very bare owing to the drought and nothing of a poisonous nature, that he knew of, grew within the cows' reach . Treatment , each cow was given a saline purge. July 3rd, a t 9 a.m ., two of the cows were treln bling a t t he flanks, bodies cold, tempera tures 105 F ., the othe r three seemed easier, temperatures 102 to 103 F., extremities cold , all were dull and off food and drink, no milk, they moved with difficulty and appeared to be partially p aralysed , ext . nux. vom. and ammonia given. At 7 p .m . four were down a nd would n ot get up, two of them, the ones with trem bling flanks in the morning, were nearly coma tose, two other cows had b ecome affected by now and they were given a purge, the cows tha t were down were given a hypode rmic injec tion of strychnine and the one th at was up anoth er dose of ext. nux . vom . and amm onia. The owner was asked to look ove r the groun d well to see if he could fi nd an y poisonous plant. July 4th , seven cows in much the same condition as yesterday, but two of those tha t were down last night were a ble to get up, their bodies were warm and they looked brighter, the t wo th at rem ained down were coma tose, bodies cold a nd ~e mpe ra ture per rectum sub normal, the five th at were up took no food or drink and they were all very dull. The nux. vom. and ammonia were continued t o those standing and t he other two were given strychnine hyperdermically. The owner was asked if he had found any poisonous plan t in t he pastures a nd he said n o, so we went with him over the ground and fOlmd that the cows had broken over into a ma rsh y coppice in which a good crop of water dropwort (E anthe fi stulosa) grew, t he cows had eaten a large quantity of the flowering t ops and leaves and a lot had been pulled up by the roots, but none of the roots seemed t o h ave been eaten. This explained all the symptoms, but I had never seen a case of poisoning from eating the flowering tops and lea ves before although I
TUBERCULOSIS IN THE HORSE
445
had previously seen lam bs and cattle poisoned from eating the roots. July 5th, one of the cows down yesterday found dead a nd the other cold a nd worse in every way, the other five much better, three taking a little food a nd drink , treatment continued. Post-mortem on dead cow revealed all stomachs practi cally empty and very much inflamed , small bowel slightly inflamed. July 6th , the other cow that was down yesterday was dead a nd I>o~t-mortem was same as other cow but more m arked. The other five improving nicely and from this day on they improved grad ually until completely recovered . A noticeable feature was t ha t before a cow went down her body became very cold a nd her fl anks trembled, when down they were pa rtially coma tose and t hose that died became q ui te coma tose a nd never recovered. In those cows tha t recovered improvement started as soon as t heir bodies go t warm and they continued to improve so long as t hey could be kept warm, but the body tempera ture went up a nd down intermittently and in the case of th e two that died we were never able t o get them wa rm.
A Case of Tuberculosis , By
10
the Horse.
J. McCUNN. M.R.C.Y.S .• M.R.C.S .. L.R.C.P.•
Professor in the R oyal Veterinary College, London..
The following is a case which, on account of its course, I think worthy of a record. The patient was a six years old cart mare, bred and born on t he farm where she died , owned only by one man. All her working life s he was worked by the same individual. On Sunday, ] 5th of April, I was asked to look at this mare. She had been on and off her food for a bout a month or six weeks. She had lost flesh and it was surmised that her teeth were causing the trouble. The mare. when seen , had b een turned out for t h week end. She was in the fi eld with th e others and was grazing . She looked bright a nd apparently healthy. He r coat was in good order a nd I naturally thought that t he owner's suspi cions re her t eeth were well founded . Examinati on of th e mouth revealed sharp edges on the teeth and nothing else. T hey were ras ped . On h andling the ma re it was noticed that she felt hot , a nd on ta king her temperature I was surprised to find that it was 105.5 H er respirations were n orm al in rate and t ype, but on auscultation moist sounds we re h eard a long t he st urn al region . The mare was housed, musta rd a pplied and t h e usual feluluge m ixtures
443
The treatment consisted of the administration of one drachm of calomel twice daily, with frequent and vigorous grooming, and the dissolving in the drinking water of a rtificial Carlsbad salts. As the animal never drank any thing this was of course wasted . On the morning of th e econd d ay, as all glandular secretions appeared to be in abeyan ce a hypodermic inj ection of a recoline compound was g iven, with very little result. There was some slight sa li vation , and a few pellets of fc.eces. covered with mucus were passed but the patient's general condition remained the same. An attempt was m ade to administer a few doses of liq. ammonic.e acetatis and spts. c.etheris nit. as drench es but had to be abandoned as the animal was dangerous to drench. I therefore made up some balls containing sodii sa licylas of which I prescribed four drachms night a nd morning without h aving any effect on the tempera ture. Having seen a similar ca e die of supe r-purgation after the administration of a n aloe tic physic ball , m any years ago, I hesitated to adopt a ny drastic m easures although the icteric condition of the visible mucous membranes began to ca U for som £' vigorous bowel and liver stimulant. On the evening of the fourt h day of treatment I t ook the stomach pump and tube, and inj ected three gallons of water from the tank in t he stable yard (which had been well aerated a nd warmed . by the sun) by the nasal route , dissolving in this R4 grai ns of Dimol as an intestinal a ntiseptic. On the following morning the temperature had fallen to 102. 5°, the horse had ea ten a h ot mash , his bowels h ad acted , evacuating a la rge soft mass of fceces resembling a cow's, a nd his general condition l1ad greatly improved. The skin was warm a nd the mouth moist and clean. In the evening the temperature had fallen an oth er degree, and from that time his p rogress was uninterrupted and no furth er treatment was adopted. I am quite unable to acco unt for the symptoms. This was an apparently h ealthy horse, which had been in the stud for five years and h ad given no trouble. He had been in regul ar daily work and there was no sickness amongst the other horses.
A Case of Poisoning by Water Dropwort in Cattle. By F. BOOTH. M.R.C.V.S., Old Colwyn. CALLED on July 2nd, 1929, to see 5 cows at a dairy farm near Colwyn Bay, at 8 p.m. My son attended and found the 5 cows looking very depressed, purging freely, off food , extremities cold , t emperatures
444
THE VETERI ARY JOURNAL
varied from ]02 F . to 105 F., pulse trequen t and t hready , all seemed to suffer from abdominal pain and grunted . The history given by the owner was tha t he noticed t he cows running about in the field, some were very excited a nd wild, the weat he r was very hot a t the time and he put the'ir condition down to the heat, they were all driven to the buildings, where there was some sheUer. At milking time in the afternoon 5 of the cows were off t heir mi lk , trembling and in obvious pain , they were kept in a nd as they wen t worse, began t o purge , et c., we were sent for. Diagnosis, vegetable poison was suspected , hut owner was unable to give any help in the matter, he said that the pastures were very bare owing to the drought and nothing of a poisonous nature, that he knew of, grew within the cows' reach . Treatment , each cow was given a saline purge. July 3rd, a t 9 a.m ., two of the cows were treln bling a t t he flanks, bodies cold, tempera tures 105 F ., the othe r three seemed easier, temperatures 102 to 103 F., extremities cold , all were dull and off food and drink, no milk, they moved with difficulty and appeared to be partially p aralysed , ext . nux. vom. and ammonia given. At 7 p .m . four were down a nd would n ot get up, two of them, the ones with trem bling flanks in the morning, were nearly coma tose, two other cows had b ecome affected by now and they were given a purge, the cows tha t were down were given a hypode rmic injec tion of strychnine and the one th at was up anoth er dose of ext. nux . vom . and amm onia. The owner was asked to look ove r the groun d well to see if he could fi nd an y poisonous plant. July 4th , seven cows in much the same condition as yesterday, but two of those tha t were down last night were a ble to get up, their bodies were warm and they looked brighter, the t wo th at rem ained down were coma tose, bodies cold a nd ~e mpe ra ture per rectum sub normal, the five th at were up took no food or drink and they were all very dull. The nux. vom. and ammonia were continued t o those standing and t he other two were given strychnine hyperdermically. The owner was asked if he had found any poisonous plan t in t he pastures a nd he said n o, so we went with him over the ground and fOlmd that the cows had broken over into a ma rsh y coppice in which a good crop of water dropwort (E anthe fi stulosa) grew, t he cows had eaten a large quantity of the flowering t ops and leaves and a lot had been pulled up by the roots, but none of the roots seemed t o h ave been eaten. This explained all the symptoms, but I had never seen a case of poisoning from eating the flowering tops and lea ves before although I
TUBERCULOSIS IN THE HORSE
445
had previously seen lam bs and cattle poisoned from eating the roots. July 5th, one of the cows down yesterday found dead a nd the other cold a nd worse in every way, the other five much better, three taking a little food a nd drink , treatment continued. Post-mortem on dead cow revealed all stomachs practi cally empty and very much inflamed , small bowel slightly inflamed. July 6th , the other cow that was down yesterday was dead a nd I>o~t-mortem was same as other cow but more m arked. The other five improving nicely and from this day on they improved grad ually until completely recovered . A noticeable feature was t ha t before a cow went down her body became very cold a nd her fl anks trembled, when down they were pa rtially coma tose and t hose that died became q ui te coma tose a nd never recovered. In those cows tha t recovered improvement started as soon as t heir bodies go t warm and they continued to improve so long as t hey could be kept warm, but the body tempera ture went up a nd down intermittently and in the case of th e two that died we were never able t o get them wa rm.
A Case of Tuberculosis , By
10
the Horse.
J. McCUNN. M.R.C.Y.S .• M.R.C.S .. L.R.C.P.•
Professor in the R oyal Veterinary College, London..
The following is a case which, on account of its course, I think worthy of a record. The patient was a six years old cart mare, bred and born on t he farm where she died , owned only by one man. All her working life s he was worked by the same individual. On Sunday, ] 5th of April, I was asked to look at this mare. She had been on and off her food for a bout a month or six weeks. She had lost flesh and it was surmised that her teeth were causing the trouble. The mare. when seen , had b een turned out for t h week end. She was in the fi eld with th e others and was grazing . She looked bright a nd apparently healthy. He r coat was in good order a nd I naturally thought that t he owner's suspi cions re her t eeth were well founded . Examinati on of th e mouth revealed sharp edges on the teeth and nothing else. T hey were ras ped . On h andling the ma re it was noticed that she felt hot , a nd on ta king her temperature I was surprised to find that it was 105.5 H er respirations were n orm al in rate and t ype, but on auscultation moist sounds we re h eard a long t he st urn al region . The mare was housed, musta rd a pplied and t h e usual feluluge m ixtures