Sessional_Paper_1903 — Page 592

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Appendix A.

SYMPTOMS.

Preliminary Note.--There is a greater variation in temperature among Chinese cattle than among European. Taken per rectum it is found to vary between 99° F. and 102 F. The average normal temperature is found to be about 100.5° F. The normal temperature of European cattle is usually reckoned at 101.5° F.

Chinese cattle bear pain with greater fortitude than European cattle do. This seems to be due to their temperament and to the fact that they are less well-bred, Cattle are sometimes seen landed during rough weather with both hip-joints dislocated and extensive laceration of the adductor muscles of the thighs. When these animals are allowed to lie undisturbed, the temperature remains normal, the animal eats, drinks and ruminates, and the only thing to indicate that anything is the matter is a slightly quickened breathing.

Owing to the intimate association between Chinese cattle and their owners dom- estication is more thorough than in European breeds. Docility, obedience to, and familiarity with man are noteworthy of all Chinese cattle as we meet with them in Hongkong.

Symptoms. For convenience of description we have divided the symptoms into three stages.

First, the stage during which fever is the characteristic symptom; second, the stage during which a peculiar foetid diarrhoea is well marked; and third, the stage during which there is great prostration and blood-stained diarrhoea. The last two stages more or less run into each other.

(1.) In the early part of the disease an elevation of temperature is the only noticeable symptom. The animal eats, drinks and ruminates and behaves as if in perfect health. The rise in temperature is usually very sudden. It is com- mon to find an animal with a normal temperature in the morning and a tem- perature of 103 F. to 105° F. in the evening and a pulse of 100 to 120 per minute. Occasionally a slight cough can be noticed. This febrile condition may last from two to four days. Towards the end of this stage the animal begins to show signs of ailing. It becomes less inclined to eat, ruminates interinit- tently. The faces become coated with a thick tenacious mucous which gives them a polished and varnished appearance. The animal's coat begins to "stare" a little and the belly becomes tucked up. The animal although eating and drinking fairly well begins to lose flesh rapidly. The ears hang listlessly; the eyes are unnaturally brilliant with frequently a considerable amount of dried tears at the inner canthus. The nose at first moist and natural begins to get hard and dry, and there appears a slight discharge from the nose which the animal becomes too indifferent to remove. The temperature now usually falls a degree or so. Often there are occasional colicky pains in the abdomen; the animal holds its breath, arches its back and gives a short painful grunt. This spasm only lasts for a short time, and when it passes off the animal appears as usual and will often eat a little. The bowels instead of being constipated becoine loosened and diar: hoea sets in gradually. The com- mencement of the diarrhoea may be regarded as the beginning of the second stage.

(2.) With the onset of the diarrhoea there appears to be some relief, and the animal eats and drinks more freely. Griping pains in the abdomen are still notic, able noticable at intervals. The diarrhoea is at first perfectly healthy looking. It is necessary at this point to explain that the normal droppings of Chinese cattle are almost identical with those of sheep in Great Britain so that the appearance of the fæces at the begin- ning of the dirrahoea resenibles exactly what would be regarded in home cattle as per- fectly normal excreta, riz., soft and pultaceous. During this stage the temperature usually falls a degree or two, e.g., from 104° F. or 105° F. to 102.5 F. or 103° F. The excessive mucous which enveloped the excreta, during the febrile stage now disappears. The discharge from the nose becomes very profuse. The eyes become hidden by a thick glairy mucous which overflows, trickles down the cheek and becomes agglutinated to the bairs. The conjuntival mucous membrane is reddened. The rectal and vaginal mucous membranes are sometimes reddened, at other times normal. Over the upper third of the shoulders, on the upper aspect of the neck and over the rump there is frequently to be seen a scaly furfuraceous condition of the skin which causes the hair to stand erect over those parts. At other times this condition is not noticeable until the disease is more advanced. Shortly after its commencement, 12 to 24 hours, the character of the diarrhoea alters, it becomes thin,