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Stomach Staggers
STOMACH STAGGERS
277
dogs, gorge, and drop off, and the odds arc heavily against their falling in another fa rmer's kennel. Moreover, the farmers, having b een warned, m ay now be careful not to put visitors' dogs in their own doghouses, and may sweep them more often, and the period April 14th to May 5th is not one when the fell-shepherd does much v isiting, fallin g as it does afte r th e lambing season and before shearing. If th e hi story of the Lunds epidem ic has thrown a little li ght on canin e " h ysteria," that is all to the good, but it was not our aim. Our aim we seem to have achi eved by stumbling on a cure for those of our cases that do not cure th emselves and a method of a rres ting the progress of our epidemic. In so d oing we have destroyed th e opportu nity for further study and must leave to the scientists- to certain of whom and especially to Professor Frederi ck T. G. H obday, C. M.G. , F. R.C.V .S., a nd to Professo r George H . F. Nuttall , F.R.S. , we owe a very h eavy debt of gratitude for encouragemen t a nd help- must b e left the researches tha t will lead to more exact kn owledge. If anoth er report be needed from Lunds, I hope it will be simila r in tenor and len gth to the celebrated cha pter on " Snakes in Icelanct ."
Clinical
Jlrticl~
Stomach Staggers. By FRANK CHAMBERS, F.R. C.V.S., W o/verhampton. ON May 23rd, 1930, I was asked to see a four-year-old Shire mare v ery heavy in foal. The owner s tated that at times she would go ve ry g idd y and stagger forwa rd. These a ttacks passed off in a few minutes when the m are would comm ence to graze quite normally. he would g raze for h alf an h our and would then be attacked again. I saw h er in one attack when sh e appeared to be sleepy. There was in co-ordination of m ovement , the eyes would be partially closed a nd if one attPmpted to move the ma re she would stagger forwa rd . Temperature varied b etween 102 to 104. Pulse was very rapid. The ma re was bred by the owner and had never ha d any illness during her life except an ac ute attack of muscular rheuma tism (?) when she was a yearling. This sh e got over in three week s. Th at sh e was suffering from a t ype
278
THE VETERINARY JOURNAL
of s tomach staggers was obvious but the cause was obscure. due
Was it
(1) To a calcium defi ciency ? (2) To a type of grass sicknes ? (3) To the presence of a P sammoma ? The latter condition could be put out of court as t he sym ptoms were not constant . The symptoms in no way resembled grass sickn ess for there was no difficulty in swa llowing a nd the ma re ate well a t times . I inj ected subcutaneously 10 c.c. of Osteolin . On the 24th May the mare was no better so I injected 300 c.c. of a 1O% solution of Calcium Glaucona te. On the 27th I inj ected a fur t her 300 c.c. On that day when I went to see the mare in t he fi eld all the use had gone out of the near hind leg and when made to walk she progressed on the fetlock joint. The owner s tated t ha t the use came back into th e leg a t night and that she walked well nex t morning. On two occasions during her illness I passed the stomach tube and gave her formalin a nd alt . The mare died suddenly on the 29th and I made a post-mortem the same day. There was a large clot in the internal saph ena vein of the near hind leg. On opening the abdomen the stomach appeared as a huge mass. I thought at first it was the uterus but on making a closer examination found tha t there was an abscess subperiton eal.ly situated on the larger curva ture of the s tomach containing four. gallons of thick semi caseating pus. The rest of the organs were normal and I could not find any other abscesses. This a bscess may have been the result of a mild attack of strangles that the owner had not noticed or infection carried through the mucous a nd muscular layers by a bot or other pa rasite. There were numerous bots in the stomach and many schlerostomes in the intestines.
Jlbstracts of
Curr~nt £it~ratur~
Vajda, of Budapest.- The Giving of Fluid Medicines by the Mouth and the Injection of the same by the Nose in Swine.- Tierarzt, Rundschmr, year 34, No . 70, pp. 367370. THE use of drugs for pigs by mixing in the food is only possible when t he medicine is tasteless and odourless and when the ailing animal has not lost its appetite. Electuaries of nasty tasting or smelling drugs are only partly masticated and t aken by the mouth. Fluid medicine s
277
dogs, gorge, and drop off, and the odds arc heavily against their falling in another fa rmer's kennel. Moreover, the farmers, having b een warned, m ay now be careful not to put visitors' dogs in their own doghouses, and may sweep them more often, and the period April 14th to May 5th is not one when the fell-shepherd does much v isiting, fallin g as it does afte r th e lambing season and before shearing. If th e hi story of the Lunds epidem ic has thrown a little li ght on canin e " h ysteria," that is all to the good, but it was not our aim. Our aim we seem to have achi eved by stumbling on a cure for those of our cases that do not cure th emselves and a method of a rres ting the progress of our epidemic. In so d oing we have destroyed th e opportu nity for further study and must leave to the scientists- to certain of whom and especially to Professor Frederi ck T. G. H obday, C. M.G. , F. R.C.V .S., a nd to Professo r George H . F. Nuttall , F.R.S. , we owe a very h eavy debt of gratitude for encouragemen t a nd help- must b e left the researches tha t will lead to more exact kn owledge. If anoth er report be needed from Lunds, I hope it will be simila r in tenor and len gth to the celebrated cha pter on " Snakes in Icelanct ."
Clinical
Jlrticl~
Stomach Staggers. By FRANK CHAMBERS, F.R. C.V.S., W o/verhampton. ON May 23rd, 1930, I was asked to see a four-year-old Shire mare v ery heavy in foal. The owner s tated that at times she would go ve ry g idd y and stagger forwa rd. These a ttacks passed off in a few minutes when the m are would comm ence to graze quite normally. he would g raze for h alf an h our and would then be attacked again. I saw h er in one attack when sh e appeared to be sleepy. There was in co-ordination of m ovement , the eyes would be partially closed a nd if one attPmpted to move the ma re she would stagger forwa rd . Temperature varied b etween 102 to 104. Pulse was very rapid. The ma re was bred by the owner and had never ha d any illness during her life except an ac ute attack of muscular rheuma tism (?) when she was a yearling. This sh e got over in three week s. Th at sh e was suffering from a t ype
278
THE VETERINARY JOURNAL
of s tomach staggers was obvious but the cause was obscure. due
Was it
(1) To a calcium defi ciency ? (2) To a type of grass sicknes ? (3) To the presence of a P sammoma ? The latter condition could be put out of court as t he sym ptoms were not constant . The symptoms in no way resembled grass sickn ess for there was no difficulty in swa llowing a nd the ma re ate well a t times . I inj ected subcutaneously 10 c.c. of Osteolin . On the 24th May the mare was no better so I injected 300 c.c. of a 1O% solution of Calcium Glaucona te. On the 27th I inj ected a fur t her 300 c.c. On that day when I went to see the mare in t he fi eld all the use had gone out of the near hind leg and when made to walk she progressed on the fetlock joint. The owner s tated t ha t the use came back into th e leg a t night and that she walked well nex t morning. On two occasions during her illness I passed the stomach tube and gave her formalin a nd alt . The mare died suddenly on the 29th and I made a post-mortem the same day. There was a large clot in the internal saph ena vein of the near hind leg. On opening the abdomen the stomach appeared as a huge mass. I thought at first it was the uterus but on making a closer examination found tha t there was an abscess subperiton eal.ly situated on the larger curva ture of the s tomach containing four. gallons of thick semi caseating pus. The rest of the organs were normal and I could not find any other abscesses. This a bscess may have been the result of a mild attack of strangles that the owner had not noticed or infection carried through the mucous a nd muscular layers by a bot or other pa rasite. There were numerous bots in the stomach and many schlerostomes in the intestines.
Jlbstracts of
Curr~nt £it~ratur~
Vajda, of Budapest.- The Giving of Fluid Medicines by the Mouth and the Injection of the same by the Nose in Swine.- Tierarzt, Rundschmr, year 34, No . 70, pp. 367370. THE use of drugs for pigs by mixing in the food is only possible when t he medicine is tasteless and odourless and when the ailing animal has not lost its appetite. Electuaries of nasty tasting or smelling drugs are only partly masticated and t aken by the mouth. Fluid medicine s