Indigestion or Dyspepsia in Cattle
Etiology: Is error in diet, intensive feeding, especially in cows at or after parturition, want of exercise.
Symptoms: Irregular appetite and rumination. Sometimes the appetite is depraved. The animal is inclined to drink water in quantity. Coatis dry. Feces dry and caked. Flanks hollow, later there is some loss of condition.
Treatment: Give light laxative, Soda, Sulph, or Mag. Sylph, or Soda. Chloe, in treacle fool-lowed by a course of stomac.hius. Diet should be sparing and laxative consists of mashes, gruels, green food. Exercise is useful.
In Horse: it is due to some defect in the excretion of the glands of stomach or defect in muscular movement.
Etiology
- Imperfect mastication of food as in de-facts of teeth.
- Errors in dietary, irregular feeding, indigestible or irritating foods and damaged fodder.
- Parasites (Bots, Habronima, Trichostrongylus axe).
- Wing sucking and crib biting.
- Dilated stomach.
Symptoms: In indigestion, appetite is capricious or variable. The animal is inclined to turnip upper lip and lick walls. It is not dry but skins dry and there is sour condition of the mouth. There may be some constipation. Whole oats and coarse strands of hay will be found in the droppings. The course of affection varies; it may pass off rapidly especially when cause is removed.
Treatment: Try to ascertain and remove cause. Examine teeth and correct any defects. Examine the food and ensure regular feeding. Give laxative and follow laxatives with stomachiesand tonics in drinking water twice daily. The animal should be allowed rock salt to lick. If there is a tendency to bolt corn, mix a little dry bran with it.
In Dog: Inability to digest food material taken in due to want of secretion.
Etiology: Errors in dietary, particularly foods which contained too much starch or decomposing material, irregular feeding or feeding of bones, especially of poultry or fed too frequently, insufficient exercise, diseases of the teeth such as Tartar, Pyorrhea. In older dog, condition may be associated with chronic cardiac or liver diseases.
Symptoms: Capricious appetite and vomiting after eating. The eating of grass is noted sometimes. There is a sour odor from mouth and tongue is furred. The dog is generally dullard snappy. No pain is shown on manipulation of abdominal wall. Temperature and pulse normal, tendency to constipation. Condition is use-ally corrected readily on treatment.
Treatment: Try to ascertain and remove cause, e.g. Tarter of teeth or teeth which are looser affected with pyorrhea. Give laxative. This is followed by antiemetic, antacids and stomachic before feeding. In more chronic cases, liver ex-tract with Vat. B-Complex and enzymes may be given. If animal is not vomiting, antiemetic maybe omitted. Feed animal sparingly and feed regularly with milk and its products, finely shredded liver meal and exercise must be given.