The Veterinarian Part 22

INDIGESTION

CAUSE: Worms are perhaps one of the most common causes. Unwholesome, irritating food or swill containing soap or washing powder have a tendency to derange the process of digestion.

SYMPTOMS: Abdominal pain, vomiting, back arched, breathing rapid and temperature elevated from two to three degrees. There may be diarrhoea or the animal may be constipated. Vomiting, as a rule, relieves acute attacks by expelling the irritant from the bowels. When it takes a chronic form, the hogs become stunted.

TREATMENT: Endeavor to find out the cause and remove it. If constipated, give Calomel, fifteen to twenty grains, or, if diarrhoea appears, give hog regulator and tonic as prescribed on first page of this chapter.

Feed with hot wheat bran mashes. This will expel all worms and aid digestion.

JAUNDICE

(Yellows)

CAUSE: Liver flukes, intestinal worms, gall stones, lack of exercise, overfeeding, or a stoppage of the bile duct.

SYMPTOMS: The white portions of the eyes take on a yellow color, as do the membranes of the mouth, back arched, hair looks rough, vomiting, temperature elevated, constipation, although diarrhoea is sometimes noticed. The urine is pa.s.sed frequently, and is of a dark amber color.

TREATMENT: This disease requires careful feeding and plenty of exercise.

Give Calomel, ten to twenty grains, then follow with large doses of regulator and tonic as prescribed on first page of this chapter. It is important in this disease, especially if due to worms. Feed clean swill and vegetables. Give hogs all the pure water they will drink.

KIDNEY CONGESTION

CAUSE: Hogs are subject to various injuries about the kidneys, due to a large number of hogs piling up, exposure to cold, wet rains, etc.

SYMPTOMS: Small quant.i.ties of dark colored urine are pa.s.sed frequently, appet.i.te poor, no energy to move about. Hogs lie around a great deal; at times they may be paralyzed and drag their hind quarters.

TREATMENT: Apply cloths or blankets wrung out of hot water over the loin; also give Pota.s.sium Acetate in twenty grain doses four or five times a day in drinking water. Feed soft, sloppy food, containing regulator and tonic as prescribed on the first page of this chapter. It contains nerve stimulants, just what is required in paralysis.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Photograph of pig.]

GRAND CHAMPION DUROC BOAR.

Economy Stock Farm, Shenandoah, Iowa.

KIDNEY WORM

CAUSE: Damp, filthy surroundings seem to favor the growth of embryos of this worm. They are taken into the digestive ca.n.a.l with the food and eventually pa.s.s to the region of the kidneys, where they find conditions favorable in which to multiply.

SYMPTOMS: May produce paralysis of the hind quarters, in which case the animal would not exhibit such marked tenderness on being pressed over the loins with the fingers as it would if the weakness of the hind quarters was due to a sprain or to rheumatism of the loins. Occasionally hogs may suffer from the presence of one or more worms in the kidneys; but the ailment is rarely fatal, becoming so only after a long time of suffering resulting in a degeneration of one or both kidneys. It is almost impossible to diagnose the presence of worms in the kidneys of hogs, except by chance through a microscopic examination of the urine.

If worms are found in the kidneys of a hog that has died or been slaughtered for food it may then be reasonably supposed that other hogs of the same herd not acting normal are infected with worms of the same species.

TREATMENT: Teaspoonful doses of Turpentine in milk three times a week is the only treatment I could recommend. Preventive measures is the only practical method of treating a disease of this nature. Give your hogs pure water and food. Disinfect pens occasionally and keep them clean.

LICE ON HOGS

Dip, spray or scrub your hogs with some good Coal Tar disinfectant, but whatever remedy is used it should be applied more than once which, of course, causes considerable work where there is a large number of hogs infested, unless dipped, which is more quickly done. The reason for repeated applications being necessary is that although the lice which hogs pick up from the ground, bedding and rubbing places, may be killed by first application, it often does not affect the nits, which remain intact and hatch within a week or ten days. A new crop of Lice appears on the hog from this source. Remove all manure and bedding from pens and sheds and burn it. Disinfect floors and spray sides of shed, pens and rubbing places with disinfectants, one part to seventy-two parts of water, once a month and you will be handsomely repaid for your labor.

LUNG FEVER

(Inflammation of the Lungs)

CAUSE: Sudden changes, exposure to storms, piling up of hogs during cold nights, or sleeping in manure heaps, old straw stacks, etc.

SYMPTOMS: Pig or hog is taken with shivering spells, is stupid, his back is arched, loss of appet.i.te, temperature elevated two to four degrees above normal, short hurried breathing, generally accompanied with cough, which is deep and hoa.r.s.e. As a rule the hog is constipated.

TREATMENT: Place in good, clean, warm, well ventilated quarters, free from drafts. Keep water before them at all times, adding Saltpeter, one teaspoonful to every gallon of water. If constipated, do not give physics; give injections of soap and warm water; also administer about one-half teaspoonful of Pine Tar on the tongue with a wooden paddle.

This adheres to the tongue and gradually dissolves and gives excellent results, as it is very soothing to the organs of breathing. During the convalescent stage, give hog regulator and tonic as prescribed on first page of this chapter.

LUNG WORMS

CAUSE: By threadlike worms varying in length from one-half to one and one-half inches and of a brownish-white color. They are found in the windpipe and tubes leading into the lungs. The adult worms in the lungs produce large quant.i.ties of eggs, which are coughed up with mucus and become scattered over premises where other hogs are permitted to walk.

The hogs inhale the dust containing the eggs into their lungs, where the eggs find moisture sufficient for their development.

SYMPTOMS: Severe coughing spells. Large quant.i.ties of mucus will escape from the nose and mouth. The hog becomes stunted, although he may eat fairly well, but if not relieved, the worms collect in the Bronchi and produce sudden death due to suffocation. The worms may set up an inflammation of the lining membranes of the lungs, which is sometimes taken for Swine Plague, or Cholera. This disease is not uncommon, especially in old, filthy, poorly drained hog houses and pastures.

TREATMENT: Confine the affected hogs to a shed; close the windows and doors and any large cracks, then compel the hogs to inhale steam from the following mixture: Turpentine, eight ounces; Pine Tar, one pint; Water, two gallons. Place in tin receptacle in center of the shed and heat the above solution by adding hot bricks or stones to the mixture occasionally. Compel them to inhale this steam for at least thirty minutes twice a day. Feed wholesome food to which add hog tonic as prescribed on first page of this chapter. A strong, vigorous hog may have worms, but it retains its vitality so long as it is well fed.

MANGE

CAUSE: By the Sarcoptes Scabei. This parasite burrows under the outer surface of the skin.

SYMPTOMS: The parasite usually manifests itself on the skin under the armpits, thighs and inside of the fore legs. At first small red blotches or pimples appear, and these gradually spread as the parasites multiply and burrow under the skin.

TREATMENT: There is no other way of curing this disease, or of preventing it, than by killing the parasites and their eggs; not only on the pigs themselves, but also on the sides of the pens, sheds, rubbing-posts, or anything that an affected hog rubs against.

When treating this disease, the real aim must be to kill the parasite by the prompt and continuous use of external remedies, such as washing or dipping, which is better done with some good disinfectant, one part to seventy parts water. Repeat this every ten days until cured. Two dippings are generally sufficient. It is well to feed cooling foods, such as clean slops and vegetables, containing regulator and tonic as prescribed on first page of this chapter.

NAVEL RUPTURE

(Navel or Umbilical)

CAUSE: Injuries. Pigs crowding through narrow doorways or openings in fences, small pigs sleeping with large pigs, and allowed to pile up, or being thrown about feed troughs when feeding. Weakness and constipation also predisposes them to Navel or Umbilical Rupture.