Manual of veterinary homeopathy

When a number of Sheep or Goats, or a flock, are to receive medicine, the best and most economical, as well as efficient method, is as follows: Procure a new or perfectly clean pint bottle and cork, fill it two-thirds full of pure water, to which add a large spoonful, or sixty drops, of the proper remedy, SHAKE IT THOROUGHLY, so as to perfectly medicate the whole mass. Of this a dessert spoonful is a dose for a sheep or goat. Paste a proper label on the bottle and use it only for that remedy, so as to prevent mistake or confusion.

CHAPTER I.
GENERAL DISEASES

Black Leg

Known as Quarter Ill, or the Black Spauld of the English Shepherds, or as one of the “Murrains” of this country. It affects young and thrifty sheep, and is rarely found in old and poor stock. It is most common in wet seasons, in the early spring or summer and fall, and when the feed is very luxuriant. The sheep gorge themselves with the rich vegetation, and the digestion being over-taxed, the system is disorganized and the sheep suddenly droop and die. On examination, the wool leaves the skin at the slightest touch, and the body is found to be swollen and blackened in large patches, chiefly on the hind or fore quarter. Air is infiltrated under the skin, and the carcass seems already decomposed and full of black blood. On examining the flock, some will be lame or limping, the eyes red, and the mouth and tongue inflamed and blistered, and on passing the hand over the sides or quarters, they will be found swollen, the wool readily coming off, and a crepitation be heard from the confined air beneath. The urine is dark, the bowels constipated and dung bloody. After a time the animal is unable to stand, and falls upon the side; stretches out the limbs and in a few hours is dead.

The disease is worse on moist, rich bottom lands, and is rare on dry hills or gravelly soils. To prevent the disease, such soils and localities should be avoided, and the sudden changes from poor to such rich and succulent and abundant pasturage.

Treatment.—The disease is incurable, and diseased animals should be killed at once, the bodies burned and the premises disinfected as given under Abortion, page 122. The healthy animals should be moved to another pasture and the infected pasture burned off the following winter, this destroys the germs in that pasture.

Cattle may be rendered immune to Black Leg by vaccination. The vaccine with directions for its use is given away to stock owners by the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C.

Foot and Mouth Disease—Eczema Epizootica

Definition.—An acute, contagious fever, characterized by the formation of vesicles and ulcers, chiefly about the mouth and hoofs, etc. The eruptions appear on the mucous membrane of the mouth, on the fetlock, and in the cleft of the hoofs, and not unfrequently as a eruption on the udder. The disorder chiefly prevails among cattle and sheep, but under favoring circumstances, also attacks other domestic quadrupeds, and even man.

Causes.—It appears as an epidemic, and spreads exclusively by contagion. The precise nature of the germ is unknown, but it is chiefly limited to the contents of the vesicles, the secretion of the ulcers, the saliva, the blood and the natural secretions and excretions, of the diseased animal; and these convey the disease. The predisposing causes are exposure to cold, wet, currents of cold air, poor fodder, want of cleanliness and good housing; and anything that tends to lower the constitutional vitality. The activity of the virus is preserved for many months. The poison may be conveyed by the clothes of herdsmen and other persons, by manure, tools, fodder, by grass and ground previously trodden by diseased animals, and milk to suckling calves, indeed by almost anything. It finds its way into the system in various ways, not depending on any wound for admission. The communication to man is by drinking the milk of diseased cows. A second attack is rare.

Symptoms.—After a period of incubation, lasting from three to six days, the animal is seized with a shivering fit, and appears dull and stupified. A vesicular eruption soon appears on the mouth, the hoofs, and the teats. Suckling lambs, have a similar eruption on the mouth and throat, with irritation of the whole alimentary canal, attended with inability to suck, and exhausting diarrhea. The eyes are then observed to be dim, watery, congested; the muzzle, ears and horns alternately hot and cold; shivering ensues; rumination is diminished; the milk is less in quantity, yellower and thicker than usual, and much deteriorated in quality; the bag swollen, tender, hot; the back arched; the coat staring and harsh; the pulse somewhat accelerated; the temperature moderately elevated, reaching 102°, or even 104°; the eruption in the mouth is first seen on the inner surface of the upper lip, the edge of the upper jaw where there are no teeth, on the tip and edges of the tongue, and is indicated by salivation, by pain and loss of power in taking and eating food. The vesicles occur on the mucous membrane, singly or in patches, first as little red spots, then as whitish-yellow, slightly turbid blisters, about the size of a bean, at first transparent, but subsequently filled with a puriform fluid. These vesicles burst in about eighteen hours, discharge their fluid, leaving behind shallow ulcers, which often run together and then form deep and ragged ulcers. The lips, cheeks, tongue, and sometimes the Schneiderian membrane, are affected. The eruption on the feet is first seen around the coronet and in the interdigital space, especially of the hind legs; and the resulting vesicles burst quickly, because of the animal’s movements. The animal evidently suffers intense pain, is lame or unable to stand, and moves reluctantly or cautiously; the hoofs swell; the vascular secreting membranes become inflamed; the hoofs are cast; the bones may become diseased; and serious mischief may ensue. The eruption on the udder turns to vesicles, as in the mouth, and, when the fluid dries or escapes, thin scales are formed. The teats are swollen and sore. In exceptional cases, a vesicular eruption appears on the muzzle, the mucous membrane of the nostrils, the conjuctivae of the eyes, and the mucous membrane of the vagina.

In favorable cases, the fever subsides about the fourth day, the eruption declines, the appetite returns, and in seven to fourteen days the animal recovers. But complications are not uncommon. And in unfavorable cases the fever is high, the ulceration increases, the animal suffers from exhaustion, wasting, discharge of stringy, bloody mucous from the mouth, and of offensive matter from the nostrils; the face is swollen, the breath foul, the respiration rapid and grunting; the pulse small, weak, rapid; the blood becomes impure; the belly and legs œdematous; the hoofs slough off; diarrhea supervenes, and death follows about the ninth or tenth day.

Prognosis.—This is unfavorable—The United States Government and the Health Officers of the several States require all suspected cases of Foot and Mouth Disease to be quarantined, and upon the full development of the disease all animals infected to be killed. Human beings are liable to become infected, great care should be exercised in handling diseased animals or their carcases.

Liver Rot—Liver Fluke Disease

This is a very destructive disease and causes much loss to sheep raisers each year.

It is caused by a small worm called the Distoma; which is swallowed by the sheep in water or on grass and which makes its way to the liver, where it lives. These worms only exist in low damp land, high dry pastures are free from them.

Symptoms.—The sheep becomes dull and listless, followed by loss of flesh and strength, the wool comes off easily. The loss of strength continues and death usually ensues.

Treatment.—Since the worms only exist for any length of time in low damp land; and high dry pastures are usually free from them; the sheep should be removed to the dry pastures. Rock salt should be given freely to the infected sheep. There is no known cure for this disease.

Encephalitis, Inflammation of the Brain

This disease may arise from internal causes, but more frequently from sun-stroke, blows upon the head, too plentiful food, etc.

Symptoms.—The animal ceases to eat; hangs its ears and head, which are hot to the touch; walks along staggering, unconscious whither it goes; the eyes are bright and red and projected from the head; the air it expires is hot; the breathing short, rapid and accompanied with violent beating of the flanks; it remains lying down, head stretched on the ground, and, as the disease draws to a close, it ends in convulsions.

Treatment.—Give A.A., a dose of three or five drops every hour, during the height of the disease, and then at longer intervals as the case improves.

Apoplexy

In consequence of that plethora, which is the result of over-feeding in fattening, sheep are quite liable to apoplexy, and when in this condition they are driven rapidly some distance in warm weather, they are quite liable to a fit of this disease.

Symptoms.—Generally there are some symptoms which indicate that an animal is about to have a fit of this very frequent complaint. These are: Dullness; frequent standing still, or remaining behind the others, the breathing is quickened; it seems sleepy and unaware of what is going on around; the eyes appear as if they were blind; the pupils are reddened and nostrils dilated; pulse is quick and hard; the membranes of the nose and eyes are red; then, from standing fixed as it were in one place, it staggers and falls; then is violently convulsed, and, unless relieved, death speedily ensues.

Treatment.—The A.A., if given before the convulsion, a dose of three or five drops, will often arrest its farther progress. If the fit has taken place, give the medicine at once, and repeat the dose again after the animal gets over it, should it survive the fit.

Louping Ill

This disease is more common in the spring of the year when it attacks sheep and particularly lambs.

It begins with twitching and tremblings; sometimes even convulsions. The animal falls and may even leap into the air. This is later followed by paralysis of part of the body, and the head being drawn to one side.

This disease is due to bacteria which are transmitted to the sheep by the grass tick. No cure is known. Diseased sheep should be killed and the rest of the flock dipped for Scab, as on page 211.

Trotters—Nibblers

This is a disease somewhat like louping ill but appears to be heriditary.

Symptoms.—The sheep trembles when touched and walks with a peculiar gait, raising the feet high (Trotters). Later there appears to be an itching, since the animal rubs and bites its hind quarters (Nibblers). This is followed by wasting, paralysis and death.

Treatment.—There is no known cure and diseased animals should be slaughtered and not bred from.

Epilepsy—Fits

In sheep, this disorder frequently occurs on a fine, cold morning in spring, early summer and autumn, within an hour or two of daybreak. On rising from its bed, the animal stares, staggers, falls, struggles convulsively for a few minutes, kicks, rolls its eyes, grinds its teeth, foams at the mouth, and sometimes involuntarily voids dung and urine. After a few minutes, or perhaps half an hour, the fit subsides, the animal rises, seems semi-conscious, presently begins to eat, and appears to be in good health. These fits may occur daily, and then will soon become fatal; or, by occasional repetition, they may wear away the creature’s flesh and strength.

Treatment.—A few doses of A.A., on the day of attack, followed by a dose of A.A., each morning, and of J.K., each night, are the proper remedies. A change of pasture and shelter should be provided.

Rabies—Hydrophobia—Madness

When a mad dog has entered a fold, it is often difficult to determine which sheep have been bitten and which remain untouched. Careful examination, one by one, should be made; still uncertainty remains. The symptoms appear from two to ten or twelve weeks after attack, and are similar to those which appear in other animals. The sheep annoy and chase each other, cease to feed, lose flesh, are restless, and manifest strong and unnatural sexual desire. Ewes become stupified and paralyzed, and die, often without a struggle. Lambs have convulsive fits, terminated by death. Rams and wethers, butt their heads against the ground, palings, banks and one another; running full tilt, with great violence and frequency, so as to tear the skin from their foreheads. They usually die in from 3 to 6 days.

Treatment.—A.A., should be given every day, to all the flock, for a few days, then once a week for several weeks. If an animal develops the symptoms it should be killed at once, since there is no known cure. However few animals or persons bitten by supposedly mad dogs ever develop the disease.

Dizziness, Staggers, Sturdy, Turn-Sick, Gid.

This is a very dangerous and not infrequent disease. Its immediate cause is the presence of a small worm, inclosed in a hydatid or sack of fluid, and located either within the substances of the brain, or beneath the bones of the cranium. These hydatids vary in size, number and position, being found on the right or left side, indicated by the animal turning to the right or left, or in the centre of the median line, in which case it may turn to either side, or not at all, the animal carrying the head down. When the hydatid occupies the back of the head, the animal holds the head high, and runs straight forward, throwing itself on any object it meets.

Symptoms.—As above indicated, the symptoms consist of various forms of turning, whirling around or standing still, etc. At first, when the hydatids are small, there may be but little or nothing to indicate their presence; but as they grow larger, they press upon the bone, and even enlarge or remove a great portion of it. One side of the head may be enormously enlarged, or the bone become quite thin, so that the situation of the cyst may be thus known, and sometimes a small hole may be discerned. The sacks are more frequently on the left side.

The first effects are: dullness, loss of spirits; they chew the cud slowly and carelessly; they keep aloof from the other sheep; they stagger when walking; stand before a pool of water looking into it, and sometimes tumble in and are drowned; sometimes when eating they appear as if frightened, and run over the field as if pursued; the head is held higher or lower, or carried on one side; the body, in moving, inclines to the same side; the sheep appear to wander about, and gradually lose flesh and strength; then they begin to turn round and round to one side; seem quite unconscious of everything around them; the round and round movements increase until they are almost constant, and the animal at length dies.

Treatment.—Puncturing through the skull into these cysts, when their presence is known by the swelling, is sometimes successful if the precise point is known and no other exists. Give A.A., a dose of two or five drops every night at first, and then at longer intervals. Few sheep treated survive and unless the animal is very valuable for breeding, it is better to slaughter as soon as the disease begins to appear. Although this disease is very hard to handle after it gets started, it can be easily prevented. The worm which gets into the brain is the larvæ of the tape worm of the dog, which the sheep gets from eating grass soiled by the dogs feces. The dog in turn gets this worm from the sheep by eating the brains which contain the larvæ. The remedy therefore is simple. Don’t feed uncooked sheeps brains to dogs.

Cold, Catarrh

The nose and air-passages are lined with a delicate membrane, whose office it is to secrete a thin mucous which lubricates the parts. Under the influence of a chill, suppressed perspiration, etc., this membrane becomes irritated, inflamed, and the discharge arrested, or it is thickened, increased, or variously modified.

The symptoms usually are, the sheep is not so lively as usual; he eats little or no food; he coughs and sneezes; a watery discharge flows from one or both nostrils, and also from the eyes, which are red and swelled.

In the more severe form, there is a chill, warm skin, quick pulse, frequent and somewhat difficult breathing, sore throat, pain in the throat when pinched, frequent cough, rough coat, bound bowels, red eyes, and red and dry nose; tears flow freely, and little or no food is eaten—all symptoms indicating a catarrhal fever. As the animal improves, the discharge from the nose becomes white or yellowish, and more profuse.

Treatment.—When the disease commences with a chill, or any considerable degree of fever is present, give fifteen drops of the A.A., and repeat it several times, at intervals of one or two hours. Then alternate the E.E., with the A.A., at intervals of two or three hours, until the disease is broken up.

Cough

This is usually a symptom of some primary disorder on the cure of which it will disappear. It may, however, be a passing irritation. A persistent cough is suggestive of serious ailment, and, without delay, give the E.E., and you may save the animal.

Laryngitis, or inflammation of the lining membrane of the windpipe, is due to cold, changeable weather, etc. It is distinguished from bronchitis (see next section) by a characteristic ring in the cough. The open mouth, with outstretched head, indicates difficulty of breathing and a sense of suffocation. This frequently ensues from thickening of the membrane and closure of the rima glottidis, or entrance to the windpipe. A.A., a dose two or three times per day, is the treatment.

Bronchitis, or Inflammation of the Bronchial Tubes

This disease is usually the result of exposure to cold and wet, or sudden changes of temperature; it is almost always preceded by a common cold, which has been neglected or overlooked.

Symptoms.—Cough, which becomes by degrees more painful, frequent and husky; the countenance becomes anxious and distressed; the breathing is quick, heaving and obstructed, in consequence of tough, tenacious phlegm; unwillingness to move; the breath is hot; the cough is increased by moving about, occurs in fits, and is wheezing in character; no food is eaten; the animal wastes; skin becomes dry, and is bound to the ribs; the coat stares and looks unthrifty. The animal may die from extension of the disease to the substance of the lungs.

Treatment.—The earlier stages of this disease, or catarrh, should be treated at once, as directed under that head. Then a dose or two of the Remedy for that disease removes all danger.

Remove the animal to a warm but well ventilated stable, and feed on warm mashes and gruel.

Give first, at intervals of two hours, two or three doses of the A.A., twenty drops at a dose. This will allay the heat and fever to some extent. Then alternate, at intervals of three hours, the E.E., with the A.A., the same doses, and continue this treatment until restored, only that the medicine need not be given so frequently after improvement has progressed.

Pneumonia—Inflammation of the Lungs

This disease may be caused by exposure to cold and wet; too severe weather; sudden changes of weather; cold nights and mornings and hot middays, are apt to induce it.

Symptoms.—Want of appetite; loss of the cud; dull, staring eyes; ears are hung down; the head is held up; the mouth open; breathing quick, labored and difficult, with heaving of the flanks; grating of the teeth; inside of the nose and white of the eyes much reddened; a discharge, at first thin and watery, afterwards mattery and offensive, flows from the nostrils; frequent painful cough, attended with rattling in the throat. These symptoms gradually become more and more severe, until the animal dies.

Treatment.—The A.A., will generally be found sufficient. Give a dose of five drops every two hours. Should the disease not yield in a day or two, the E.E., in doses of five drops, may be alternated with the A.A., every three hours.

Tympanitis—Hoove—Blown—Maw Bound

This disorder—is of two kinds; one due to the evolution of gas from the food taken, the other to the impaction of the food. In one case the gas produces enormous inflation of the rumen, or first of the four stomachs possessed by sheep, in the other, distention.

Treatment.—This is the same whether the distention is from gas or impacted food. F.F. may be given, a dose every quarter or half hour. We give the method of puncturing, which, however, need never be resorted to if the F.F. be administered.

Puncturing.—Relief is sometimes very urgently required, and this is best afforded either by plunging a trocar into the left side, or by passing a probang down the œsophagus into the paunch. If the trocar is used, let the canula on the instrument be ten or twelve inches long, so as to prevent the paunch from slipping away from the canula and causing delay, and perhaps further danger. Chloride of Lime is valuable after the animal is somewhat relieved by the use of the trocar; about two drachms should be mixed with a quart of water. In case of immediate relief being imperative, and a trocar not being at hand, a long, sharp pointed pen-knife may be used for puncturing. The place for puncturing is midway between the hip and ribs, where the distended rumen is prominent; the direction is inward and downward. The puncture will be followed by an outrush of gas, fluid, and even portions of food. A quill, or some other tube, must be ready to be inserted in the hole immediately after the knife is withdrawn, otherwise the wound will close. If nothing tubular be at hand, a smooth piece of stick must be put in, or anything else that will serve the purpose of keeping open the wound till the gas has escaped. The danger of this operation is not from the wound itself, but from the escape of the contents of the paunch into the abdomen, which would cause peritonitis, or from piercing the spleen or kidney. The operation can only be regarded as a rough one, to be adopted in case of great emergency.

When distention has ceased and matters have to some extent resumed their ordinary course, the animal should remain some hours without food or water. The food afterwards should be sparing and suitable.

J.K., should be administered two or three times daily until the animal is fully recovered.

Colic—Gripes

This disease is not common in sheep; but lambs over-fed with milk, or with relishing herbs, or pastured in rank or acrid grass, are subject to it (see following section on enteritis).

Treatment.—F.F., a dose every half hour until relieved.

This disease is manifested by the following symptoms: Violent and constant pain in the bowels, producing at first uneasiness, and then rolling about on the ground; the sheep almost constantly getting up and lying down again; it sometimes lies on its back, the ground is pawed, the belly struck with the hind feet, etc. These symptoms of pain are attended with confined bowels, quick pulse, cold legs and nose; the belly is tender when pressed upon.

Treatment.—The A.A., is the appropriate remedy for this disease, and may be given, five drops every one, two or three hours, according to the urgency of the disease.

In cases of extreme distress it may be alternated with the F.F., at intervals of a half hour or hour, until relieved. But usually the first named Remedy will be quite sufficient.

Diarrhea

Purging is most common in spring, and is then occasioned by fresh grass, to which the flock are unaccustomed; lambs are subject to a severe and often fatal form of this complaint, caused by the irritation of grass eaten for the first time. In some instances it may be occasioned by cold or by a peculiar irritation of the mother’s milk.

Symptoms.—The disease is manifested by discharge of various colors, and sometimes very profuse. It is accompanied with loss of appetite and wasting of flesh.

Treatment.—If the discharge is merely the effort of nature to rid the system of some hurtful substance, it will require no interference. But if it is excessive or wasting, three or five drops of the F.F., given morning and night, will usually be sufficient to arrest the disease.

Flukes, or Rottenness

This term is applied to the condition caused by the presence of fluke worms in the liver or bile ducts, where they sometimes exist in large numbers, causing great swelling of the liver.

Cause.—The disease is chiefly developed in low districts, and after damp seasons. The worms are taken in with the food and developed in the liver.

Symptoms.—Depression, sadness, inertness, loss of appetite; watery, red, yellowish, purulent eyes; yellowish tint of all parts not covered with hair; fœtid smell of nose and mouth; hard skin; dull, erect hair; irregularity of excrement, which is white, watery and fœtid.

Treatment.—The principal remedies are A.A., at first, and then, after a day, alternate C.C., with the A.A., a dose once in three or four hours.

Constipation

This is rarely of grave consequence, and when it exists, is usually a symptom of some other disease. When present, a dose of twenty drops of the J.K., given morning and night, will soon set all right again. If there is suspicion of some inflammatory condition lurking in the system, the A.A., in like doses, will have the like effect.

Dropsy

Is known as the accumulation of water or serous fluid in the abdomen. It is usually the result of inflammation of the peritoneum or lining membrane of the abdomen. It may be known by the large and pendulous condition of the belly, and by percussing or striking one part of the belly, while the other hand is held against another part, when, if water is present, the fluctuation is easily perceived. It is caused by any exposure or food that will produce the original inflammation.

Treatment.—Give five drops of the H.H., three times per day.

Founder

Sheep are occasionally foundered from similar causes which produce it in other animals. It is manifested by the following symptoms: It walks slowly; head depressed; has no sprightliness; poor appetite, but great thirst. After a time this slowness of walking becomes a rigidity, so that it requires great effort for the animal to lie down or get up again. The appetite diminishes and thirst increases. In the more advanced stages, the eyelids are swollen, the eyes more or less inflamed, and the feet extremely hot; still farther advanced, there is no appetite, feet are burning and hot, the animal is in so much pain from movement that it will only walk to satisfy its raging thirst. It drags itself along often on its knees rather than walk. It moans and groans, there is severe fever, short breathing, and severe beating of the flanks.

Treatment.—B.B., three drops, three times per day, or morning and night if the case is not urgent. If there is heat or fever, the A.A., may be given as an intermediate remedy.

Abortion

Abortion or premature birth may occur from three different causes:

1—Accidental Abortion.—Caused by a blow; strain; slipping on a wet floor, etc.

2—Enzootic Abortion.—Due to some infectious disease of the mother.

3—Contagious Abortion.—A distinct disease which causes the death and expulsion of the fetus or its expulsion in a feeble state prior to the normal period.

Symptoms of Threatened Abortion.—In the first three months of pregnancy, the appearance of a bloody, watery or mucous discharge from the vagina. In the later months, uneasiness, swelling, heat and tenderness about the udder; secretion of milk; and straining as if in labor.

Treatment of Threatened Abortion.—Give fifteen drops of G.G., every six hours, and the dose may be repeated two or three or more times should the threatening symptoms continue after the first or even the second dose has expended its action.

This interval should elapse between doses, as too rapid ones may even defeat the object, by over-excitement of the system, while a single dose often arrests an abortion if permitted to expand its action.

After a ewe has actually aborted, it is almost impossible to tell whether it occurred from contagious abortion or from some other cause, so the safe thing to do is to act as if it had been contagious abortion.

Treatment of Contagious Abortion.—The fetus and membranes should be burned. The premises occupied by the sick animal should be disinfected as follows: Remove all bedding and dirt possible and spray all available parts of barn with 3% formalin or 5% carbolic acid solution. Apply whitewash containing 1 lb. chloride of lime to 3 gallons of whitewash, scatter quicklime on floor and gutters.

The animal which has aborted should receive daily a vaginal irrigation of two gallons of warm water containing 2% lysol until the vaginal discharge stops. The external parts about the vagina, including the hips and tail, should be washed thoroughly with soap and water and then with the lysol solution as above, twice daily. This should also be done to all exposed pregnant animals in the herd, being careful not to use the same cloth, solution, bucket or attendant, for the well animals that was used for the sick one. Give G.G., at intervals of six hours.

Inflammation of the Bearing

By this term is indicated a common affection of the ewe during the lambing season, which is generally produced by injuries inflicted upon the parts of generation in forcibly extracting the lamb from the mother.

Treatment.—The parts should be well washed with tepid water, and Veterinary Oil applied. A.A., should also be given internally, two or three times a day; in some cases, alternated with I.I.

Garget—Inflammation of the Udder

Garget is a disease which prevails amongst ewes during the lambing season. It arises generally from the action of cold and wet upon the udder. Lying with the udder in contact with the cold, wet ground will produce garget; also prevalence of wet and easterly winds.

The udder swells considerably, is excessively tender, and speedily becomes hard and hot; the pulse rises; the appetite fails, and more or less fever is present. The progress of the disorder is very rapid, and often fatal; prompt treatment is consequently required.

Treatment.—The animal must be removed to a warm, sheltered situation, free from wet and cold. The best remedy is the A.A. It is the more demanded if the pulse is much disturbed and the patient feverish, and a dose should be given three or four times a day. The lamb must be allowed to suck, or the udder must be otherwise emptied of its contents. As the fever abates, use the C.C., in alternation with the A.A.

Rheumatism

Sheep, particularly aged sheep and lambs, are subject to rheumatism, sometimes acute, sometimes chronic. They move stiffly, as if in pain, look thin and miserable. The symptoms and treatment are the same as those for the same disease in cattle (page 137). In old sheep, only partial relief can be given; they should therefore be fed under shelter, ready for slaughter; if left to graze, they may not feed at all. Lambs should be sheltered and kept warm. B.B., is the proper and very useful remedy, given daily.

Lameness

A sheep frequently manifests sudden lameness; when it does so, the foot should be washed and examined. If there be a stone, thorn, or other foreign substance in the cleft, it should be removed, and the wound dressed with Humphreys’ Veterinary Oil. For other causes of lameness, see sections on foot-rot, rheumatism, etc.

Foot-Rot

This disease usually results from foreign bodies, such as sand, gravel, sticks, or dirt getting into the cleft of the foot, although it sometimes appears to be contagious.

Symptoms.—Lameness, swelling of the pastern, pain, etc.; matter then forms, and unless it is let out, it will spread in all directions under the foot and appear at the coronet; long, narrow ulcers remain, and proud flesh springs up from the diseased places.

Treatment.—Examine the foot carefully; remove all dirt or other foreign matter; then foment the foot, night and morning with hot water for an hour, and then apply a turnip or bran poultice; the hoof should be pared down, and all the dead parts, or those likely to interfere with the escape of matter, cut away; afterwards apply the Veterinary Oil on a piece of cloth, bandaged to the foot, to keep it in place and prevent dirt or other matter getting into the sore. If the parts are healthy, the tar and tallow application (equal parts) is very servicable. The hoof will then begin to grow, during which care must be taken to prevent dirt lodging in the wound and causing fresh irritation. A dose of the I.I., every morning, and of J.K., every night, will aid the process.

Pock

This disease which attacks the same animal but once in life, and by preference the young ones of the flock, is one which sometimes occasions fearful ravages among sheep. It has its regular stages, like the small-pox, and may be mild or malignant.

Symptoms.—In the mild form, the animal is for two or three days sad and dejected; then, on different parts, more particularly on the inner surface of the fore-feet and around the mouth, small red spots appear, whose center is occupied by a pimple, terminating in a white point. This stage of eruption is attended with feverish shiverings, heat, especially of the ears and nose; redness of the eyes and inner mouth; the animal is melancholy; head down; feet close together; lameness, especially of hind parts; no appetite or cud. The greater the number of pustules; the worse the disease. The body is hot; breathing short; a clear mucous flows from the mouth; the parts occupied with pimples, especially the head, swell so that the animal cannot open its eyes or mouth; the fever continues; the pustules enlarge, and are filled with fluid, first thin, and then becoming thick, yellow and purulent. On the thirteenth day the pustules begin to dry up, fever abates, pus hardens in the pustules, becomes yellow, then darker, flatten, become scabs, and by degrees fall off, leaving a dry scar behind. The drying stage lasts from five to seven days.

Sometimes this disease assumes a malignant form, in which the pock are very numerous, running together; the symptoms violent, irregular, and the pock soon becomes dark-colored. The pustules run together, forming extensive ulcers beneath the wool, frequently destroying the eyes and entire pieces of the lips and face.

Treatment.—During the feverish stage, for the first five or six days, give the A.A., five drops, four times per day. Then give the I.I., the same dose morning and night, until the animal is well. This I.I., given to the well sheep, will so act as to either prevent their having it at all, or only in a very mild form. The sound and diseased, or suspected sheep, should be separated, as the disease is very contagious, and easily communicated.

If, however, the disease has appeared in a flock with some severity, inoculation is best, quickest and safest. This may be done on the forearm or other part, with matter from a fresh pock, merely dipping the lancet in it and inserting it just beneath the skin, not so as to cause the blood to flow, or it may wash it out. The advantage is, that all have it lightly, and get over it in three weeks, otherwise the flock may be six months having it; and not one per cent of inoculated animals will die. During the disease they should not be kept too warm or be over-fed.

Gadfly

The gadfly of the sheep (œstrus ovus), allied to the gadfly of cattle (œstrus bovinus), is the plague of the flocks in August and September, as the other is of the herds; but it chooses a different place for the deposition of its eggs. The locality selected is the alœ, or flaps of the nostrils of the healthiest and finest sheep of the flock, while they are sleeping in the pasture. There the eggs, warm and moist, are speedily hatched. Thence the larvæ ascending the nasal cavity, travel to the frontal sinuses, where they remain, living on the mucous secreted there, until their metamorphosis. During their course upward they irritate the delicate membrane with their hooklets; and when then return from their hiding place for expulsion from the nostrils in the following spring, the irritation is renewed. The irritation, and consequent inflammation, pain and sense of dizziness, drive the sheep to distraction. The animal stamps, throws up his head, sneezes violently, and repeats the expulsive effort until the larvæ come away with a large quantity of mucous. The number of larvæ is usually not large; but when it is considerable, the inflammation may turn to gangrene and cause death. After expulsion, the larvæ bury themselves in the ground, assume the pupa state, in two or three months come out as gadflies, and again torment the sheep.

The treatment of this affection by means of powders blown up the nostrils, is often as irritating and injurious as the presence of the larvæ. I.J., should be given internally. The inhalation of fumes of sulphur will cause sneezing; and if the larvæ be not already dead, they should be destroyed.

Fly

Sheep that are wounded by butting each other, or any other cause, that have sores, that are dirty about the tail and quarters, are attacked by a large blow-fly, which deposits its eggs in the wound or putrescence. It is during the summer, in sultry weather and after rain that the fly is the most troublesome. After a while the eggs are hatched, and the maggots burrow in the flesh of the animal. Their presence is indicated by local swelling, pain and dejection, and ultimate debility of the animal. If the maggots are not promptly destroyed and the wound kept clean, suppuration, deep ulcerations and death ensue. Mercurial applications poison the sheep as well as the maggots. The best treatment is to remove the maggots and keep the wounds clean, and apply Humphreys’ Veterinary Oil or a 2% lysol solution.