Sheep, Swine, and Poultry Part 20

If the fever then appears to be losing ground, which may be ascertained by the regularity of the pulse, by the absence of the plaintive cries before heard, by a less laborious respiration, by the absence of convulsions, and by the non-appearance of blotches on the skin, there is a fair chance of recovery. Then administer, every second hour, as before directed, and give a proper allowance of white water, with ground barley and rye.

When the symptoms redouble in intensity, it is best to destroy the animal; for it is rare that, after a certain period, much chance of recovery exists. Bleeding is seldom of much avail, but produces, occasionally, considerable loss of vital power, and augments the putrid diathesis.

FOUL SKIN.

A simple irritability or foulness of skin will usually yield to cleanliness, and a was.h.i.+ng with a solution of chloride of lime; but, if it is neglected for any length of time, it a.s.sumes a malignant character--scabs and blotches, or red and fiery eruptions appear--and the disease rapidly pa.s.ses into mange, which will be hereafter noticed.

INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.

This disease, popularly known as heavings, is scarcely to be regarded as curable. Were it observed in its first stage, when indicated by loss of appet.i.te and a short, hard cough, it might, possibly, be got under by copious bleeding, and friction with stimulating ointment on the region of the lungs; minute and frequent doses of tartar emetic should also be given in b.u.t.ter--all food of a stimulating nature carefully avoided--and the animal kept dry and warm. If once the heavings set in, it may be calculated with confidence that the formation of tubercles in the substance of the lungs has begun; and when these are formed, they are very rarely absorbed.

The _causes_ of the disease are damp lodging, foul air, want of ventilation, and unwholesome food. When tubercular formation becomes established, the disease may be communicated through the medium of the atmosphere, the infectious influence depending upon the noxious particles respired from the lungs of the diseased animal.

The following may be tried, though the knife is probably the best resort, if for no other reason, at least to provide against the danger of infection: Shave the hair away from the chest, and beneath each fore-leg; wet the part with spirits of turpentine, and set fire to it, having previously had the animal well secured, with his head well raised, and a flannel cloth at hand with which to extinguish the flame after it has, burned a sufficient time to produce slight blisters; if carried too far, a sore is formed, productive of no good effects, and causing unnecessary suffering. Calomel may also be used, with a view to promote the absorption of the tubercles; but the success is questionable.

JAUNDICE.

The _symptoms_ of this disease are, yellowness of the white of the eye; a similar hue extending to the lips; and sometimes, but not invariably, swelling of the under part of the jaw.

_Treatment._ Bleed freely; diminish the quant.i.ty of food; and give an active aperient every second day. Aloes are, perhaps, the best, combined with colocynth; the dose will vary with the size of the animal.

LEPROSY.

This complaint commonly commences with the formation of a small tumor in the eye, followed by a general prostration of spirits; the head is held down; the whole frame inclines toward the ground; universal languor succeeds; the animal refuses food, languishes, and rapidly falls away in flesh; blisters soon make their appearance beneath the tongue, then upon the throat, the jaws, the head, and the entire body.

The _Causes_ of this disease are want of cleanliness, absence of fresh air, want of due attention to ventilation, and foul feeding. The obvious _treatment_, therefore, is, first, bleed; clean out the sty daily; wash the affected animal thoroughly with soap and water, to which soda or potash has been added; supply him with a clean bed; keep him dry and comfortable; let him have gentle exercise, and plenty of fresh air; limit the quant.i.ty of his food, and diminish its rankness; give bran with wash, in which add, for an average-sized hog--say one of one hundred and sixty pounds weight--a table-spoonful of the flour of sulphur, with as much nitre as will cover a dime, daily. A few grains of powdered antimony may also be given with effect.

LETHARGY.

_Symptoms_: torpor; desire to sleep; hanging of the head; and, frequently, redness of the eyes. The origin of this disease is, apparently, the same as that of indigestion, or surfeit, except that, in this instance, it acts upon a hog having a natural tendency to a redundancy of blood.

_Treatment._ Bleed copiously; then administer an emetic. A decoction of camomile flowers will be safest; though a sufficient dose of tartar emetic will be far more certain. After this, reduce for a few days the amount of the animal's food, and administer a small portion of nitre and sulphur in each morning's meal.

MANGE.

This cutaneous affection owes its existence to the presence of a minute insect, called _acarus scabiei_, or mange-fly, which burrows beneath the cuticle, and occasions much irritation and annoyance in its progress through the skin.

Its _symptoms_ are sufficiently well known, consisting of scabs, blotches, and sometimes mult.i.tudes of minute pustules on different parts of the body. If neglected, these symptoms become aggravated; the disease spreads rapidly over the entire surface of the skin, and if allowed to proceed on its course unchecked, will before long produce deep-seated ulcers and malignant sores, until the whole carca.s.s of the affected animal becomes a ma.s.s of corruption.

The _cause_ is to be looked for in dirt, accompanied by hot-feeding.

Hogs, however well and properly kept, will occasionally become affected with this disease from contagion. Few diseases are more easily propagated by contact than mange. The introduction of a single affected pig into an establishment may, in one night, cause the seizure of scores of others. No foul-skinned pigs, therefore, should be introduced into the piggery; indeed, it would be an excellent precaution to wash every animal newly purchased with a strong solution of chloride of lime.

_Treatment._ If the mange is but of moderate violence, and not of very long standing, the best mode is to wash the animal, from snout to tail, leaving no portion of the body uncleansed, with soft soap and water.

Place him in a dry and clean sty, which is so situated as to command a constant supply of fresh air, without, at the same time, an exposure to cold or draught; furnish a bed of clean, fresh straw. Reduce his food, both in quality and quant.i.ty; let boiled or steamed roots, with b.u.t.ter-milk, or dairy-wash take the place of any food of a heating or inflammatory character. Keep him without food for five or six hours, and then give to a hog of average size two ounces of Epsom salts in a warm bran mash--to be increased or diminished, of course, as the animal's size may require. This should be previously mixed with a pint of warm water, and added to about half a gallon of warm bran mash, and it will act as a gentle purgative. Give in every meal afterward one table-spoonful of flour of sulphur, and as much nitre as will cover a dime, for from three days to a week, according to the state of the disease. When the scabs begin to heal, the pustules to retreat, and the fiery sores to fade, a cure may be antic.i.p.ated.

When the above treatment has been practised for fourteen days, without effecting a cure, prepare the following: train oil, one pint; oil of tar, two drachms; spirits of turpentine, two drachms; naphtha, one drachm; with as much flour of sulphur as will form the foregoing into a thick paste. Rub the animal previously washed with this mixture; let no portion of the hide escape. Keep the hog dry and warm after this application, and allow it to remain on his skin for three days. On the fourth day wash him again with soft soap, adding a small quant.i.ty of soda to the water. Dry him well afterward, and let him remain as he is, having again changed his bedding, for a day or so; continue the sulphur and nitre as before. Almost all cases of mange, however obstinate, will, sooner or later, yield to this treatment. After he is convalescent, whitewash the sty, and fumigate it by placing a little chloride of lime in a cup, or other vessel, and pouring a little vitriol upon it. In the absence of vitriol, boiling water will answer nearly as well.

MEASLES.

This is one of the most common diseases to which hogs are liable. The _symptoms_ are, redness of the eyes, foulness of the skin, and depression of spirits; decline, or total departure of the appet.i.te; small pustules about the throat, and red and purple eruptions on the skin. The last are more plainly visible after death, when they impart a peculiar appearance to the grain of the meat, with fading of its color, and distention of the fibre, giving an appearance similar to that which might be produced by puncturing the flesh.

_Treatment._ Allow the animal to fast, in the first instance, for twenty-four hours, and then administer a warm drink, containing a drachm of carbonate of soda, and an ounce of bole armenian; wash the animal, cleanse the sty, and change the bedding; give at every feeding, or thrice a day, thirty grains of flour of sulphur, and ten of nitre.

This malady is attributable to dirt, combined with the giving of steamed food or wash to hogs at too high a temperature. It is troublesome to eradicate, but usually yields to treatment, and is rarely fatal.

MURRAIN.

This resembles leprosy in its _symptoms_, with the addition of staggering, shortness of breath, and discharge of viscid matter from the eyes and mouth.

The _treatment_ should consist of cleanliness, coolness, bleeding, purging, and limitation of food. Cloves of garlic are recommended; and as in all febrile diseases there exists a greater or less disposition to putrefaction, it is probable that garlic, from its antiseptic properties, may be useful.

QUINSY.

This is an inflammatory affection of the glands of the throat.

_Treatment._ Shave away the hair, and rub with tartar-emetic ointment.

Fomenting with very warm water is also useful. When external suppuration takes place, it is to be regarded as a favorable symptom. In this case, wait until the swellings are thoroughly ripe; then with a sharp knife make an incision through the entire length, press out the matter, wash with warm water, and afterward dress the wound with any resinous ointment, or yellow soap with coa.r.s.e brown sugar.

STAGGERS.

This disease is caused by an excessive determination of blood to the head.

_Treatment._ Bleed freely and purge.

SWELLING OF THE SPLEEN.

The _symptom_ most positively indicative of this disease is the circ.u.mstance of the affected animal leaning toward one side, cringing, as it were, from internal pain, and bending toward the ground.

The _cause_ of the obstruction on which the disease depends, is over-feeding--permitting the animal to indulge its appet.i.te to the utmost extent that gluttony may prompt, and the capacity of its stomach admits. A very short perseverance in this mode of management--or, rather, mismanagement--will produce this, as well as other maladies, deriving their origin from a depraved condition of the secretions and the obstruction of the excretory ducts.

_Treatment._ Clean out the alimentary ca.n.a.l by means of a powerful aperient. Allow the animal to fast for four or five hours, when he will take a little sweet wash or broth, in which may be mingled a dose of Epsom salts proportioned to his size. This will generally effect the desired end--a copious evacuation--and the action of the medicine on the watery secretions will also relieve the existing diseased condition of the spleen.

If the affection has continued for any length, the animal should be bled. A decoction of the leaves and tops of wormwood and liverwort, produced by boiling them in soft water for six hours, may be given in doses of from half a pint to a pint and a half, according to the size, age, etc., of the animal. Scammony and rhubarb, mixed in a bran wash, or with Indian meal, may be given with advantage on the following day; or, equal portions of blue-pill ma.s.s and compound colocynth pill, formed into a bolus with b.u.t.ter. The animal having been kept fasting the previous night, will probably swallow it; if not, let his fast continue a couple of hours longer. Lower his diet, and keep him on reduced fare, with exercise, and, if it can be managed, grazing, until the malady has pa.s.sed away. If he is then to be fattened, it should be done gradually; be cautious of at once restoring him to full diet.

SURFEIT.