The Veterinarian Part 27

LIVER FLUKE

CAUSE: The parasite that produces Liver Fluke in sheep has an oblong, flat, leaf-like body, brownish in color, measuring from one-fourth to one-half inch in length. Sheep become infected with this Liver Fluke from grazing on low marshy pastures infected by the larvae of Liver Fluke.

SYMPTOMS: A sheep, when first infected with Liver Fluke, generally thrives as the parasites tend to stimulate the process of digestion, being located as they are in the liver, but eventually rumination becomes irregular, the sheep becomes anemic, weak and the visible mucous membranes of the mouth, nose and eyes become pale, bloodless, taking on a yellowish color as the disease progresses. Swellings will also appear under the jaw along the neck and under the lung cavity. The process of breathing becomes feeble and temperature irregular. Pregnant ewes will generally abort and nursing ewes' milk will become so deprived of its nourishing properties that the lambs become emaciated, although not necessarily affected with the Liver Fluke.

PREVENTION: Move to non-infected pastures, supply the animals grazing on low marshy pastures with a liberal amount of salt, also introduce frogs, toads, carp, etc., into the marshy ponds, as they destroy the parasite in its first stages of development, feeding on their intermediate host, the snail.

MEDICAL TREATMENT: This is of little value. After an animal once becomes infected with the parasite, it never makes a complete recovery, although Calomel administered in ten grain doses every two or three weeks appears to have a very good effect in some cases, if fed freely on nitrogenous food and permitted to drink well of pure running water.

LUNG FEVER

(Pneumonia--Congestion of the Lungs--Pulmonary Apoplexy)

Acute congestion and inflammation of the spongy tissues of the lungs is frequently seen in sheep, the same as in other animals.

CAUSE: Sheep that are over driven are subject to Lung Congestion in acute or chronic form and sometimes Pulmonary Apoplexy, and especially when in a plethoric condition are predisposed to inflammation of the lungs. The exciting cause is very much the same as in different diseases of the air pa.s.sage and it is not uncommon for the inflammation to extend from these parts of the lungs. However, there are a number of causes in addition to those already mentioned. It frequently results when sheep are accustomed to warm, comfortable quarters and are changed to cold, drafty pens, or shipping some distance in open stock cars during cold weather. In fact, any sudden chilling of the body is a common cause of lung disorders. Giving fat sheep too much exercise when they are not accustomed to it is a very frequent cause of Congestion and Inflammation of the Lungs. This may occur when they are chased by dogs, etc., or when driven to a distant market at too rapid a gait. Exercise during the hot summer months is apt to cause congestion of the lung substance, as well as heat stroke. Dipping sheep during cold weather may chill the body and result in this disease.

SYMPTOMS: If due to severe exercise, the animal appears greatly exhausted and the Congestion of the Lungs is marked. Death may occur in this stage of the disease. Inflammation of the Lungs usually begins with a chill and is followed by a high fever. The sheep stand most of the time and may eat nothing, or very little. The breathing is hurried at first, but when the lungs become badly involved, it is also labored. The character of the pulse beats varies, depending on the extent of the inflammation and the stage of the disease. In most cases the pulse is full and quick during the early stages of the disease. A very weak pulse is present in severe and fatal cases of Pneumonia. The visible mucous membranes have a red colored appearance and there may be a slight discharge from the nostrils. The expression of the face is anxious and distressed in severe cases and rigors and chilling of the body occur.

The respiratory sounds are more or less normal. The cough at first is deep and dry; later it becomes loose and moist. It may be accompanied by a hemorrhage during this stage of the disease. Other respiratory sounds are revealed by placing the ear to the side of the chest walls and listening to the sound of the lungs. This cannot be practiced in long wooled sheep with satisfaction, as the chest walls are so thick that the lung sounds are deadened, or the noise made by the animal hides the respiratory murmurs in the very early stages of Inflammation of the Lungs. A crepitating or crackling sound can be heard in the diseased parts and louder sounds than normal in the healthy areas. Later when the engorgement of the lung substance occurs and the air cells become filled with an inflammatory serum, the respiratory sounds are deadened, but on returning to the normal, a rattling sound occurs. These symptoms help greatly in determining the animal's condition and in watching the progress of the disease. The chances for the recovery depend on the extent and the acuteness of the inflammation. Careless handling, exercising, etc., lessen the chances for a favorable termination in the disease, but good care helps more to bring about recovery than the medical treatment. The recovery is more unfavorable in fat than in lean sheep, as the inflammation is usually more severe in the former. The course is from seven to twenty-one days and it may become chronic if the irritation is kept up. In such cases, unthriftiness is a prominent sign.

TREATMENT: The preventive treatment in Pneumonia must not be overlooked.

Briefly, it consists in avoiding such conditions as may predispose the animal to the disease or act in any way as an exciting cause. Careful nursing is a very important part of the treatment. The sheep should be given a comfortable, well ventilated shed and kept as quiet as possible.

If the bowels become constipated, give two or three ounces of Castor Oil and feed sloppy food. As one attack predisposes the sheep to a second, it should be protected from severe cold, or the other extreme, heat, for a month after making a complete recovery.

The following prescription will be found very beneficial: Iodide of Ammonia, one-half ounce; Chlorate of Pota.s.si, one ounce; Pulv. Nux Vomica, one ounce. Make into twenty-four powders and give one powder every four hours well back on the tongue. Continue this treatment until the animal has recovered.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Photograph of two sheep.]

CHAMPION COTSWOLD EWES.

Owned by F. A. Koser, Rickreall, Ore.

LUNG WORMS, LAMB DISEASE

(Verminous Bronchitis)

CAUSE: Due to a white thread-like worm (Strongylus Filaria) varying in length from one to three inches. These worms affect and live in the trachea (windpipe) and bronchial tubes. Infected animals, in coughing, expel fertilized eggs which develop on the gra.s.s and stagnant water. The larvae are again taken up either in the drinking water or in eating gra.s.s or hay gathered on low marshy soil. Warm wet weather favors their development.

SYMPTOMS: This worm is liable to attack a number of animals at the same time. The weakest sheep and young lambs are the first to show signs by coughing forcibly, distressing, hacking and convulsive in character. A stringy mucus is sometimes expelled during the spasm of coughing. This mucus contains worms which can be detected, or their ova observed under a magnifying gla.s.s. In the latter stages of the disease, they cough severely at night. These attacks have a sub-acute character and prove very exhausting. The parasite by becoming entwined in b.a.l.l.s severely affects the animal's breathing which is always remarkably labored in the latter stages of the disease. The animal refuses to eat, becomes emaciated, anemic, mucous membranes of the eyes, mouth and nose become very pale and the sheep die in convulsions from suffocation.

PREVENTIVE TREATMENT: Avoid grazing your sheep on low marshy soil, especially during warm wet weather. Young lambs and weak ewes are especially susceptible to this disease.

MEDICAL TREATMENT: The writer has tried various treatments as fumigation with different substances and injection of remedies into the windpipe by the use of a hypodermic syringe, etc., but none have proven very successful, from a practical standpoint. I would recommend placing the affected animals in a tightly closed barn or shed, in the center of which place a pan of red hot coals and cover with Sulphur.

A person should remain in the barn or shed as long as he possibly can and after the fumes become so irritating that he cannot endure them any longer, he should immediately make his exit. The sheep should be compelled to stay a minute or two longer and then quickly open the doors and windows. Repeat this treatment once or twice a week. Feed affected animals well. Give them fresh water to drink and protect them from exposure. This treatment, as above described, has given very good results, providing the parasites were not too numerous.

SCAB

(Mange)

CAUSE: The mange mite (Psoroptes Communis). This parasite is equipped with stylets which pierce the skin at the seat where the mange mite penetrates the skin, and produces small red spots followed by a blister filled with serum, which ruptures, the serum drying and forming a small scab. It is in this way that innumerable mange mites cause the piling up of scabs thus producing a very scaly condition. As Mange advances, the scaly patches eventually pile up until they attain the thickness of one-half inch, unless these scabs have been severely rubbed.

SYMPTOMS: Very easily detected, as a bunch of sheep that have been recently infected will be uneasy or restless, rubbing, against fences, posts, brush, etc., causing bunches of wool to loosen. The itching seems to be more intense at night and during warm weather. The affected animals will even make attempts to bite themselves, due to the agony produced by the mange mite. If the skin is examined by the aid of a magnifying gla.s.s, the mange mite can be easily noticed, or by sc.r.a.ping the skin with a knife and placing the scabs on a dark paper and exposed to the warmth of the sun, the mange mite moving about can readily be seen with the naked eye. Mangy sheep become very poor and eventually die.

PREVENTION: This is important, for although the disease is treated with very good results, the mange mite annoy the sheep until they become very weak and emaciated and the loss of wool is enormous due to the affected animal continually rubbing against fences, brush, etc.

TREATMENT: Consists of using various dips, as Lime and Sulphur, which is recommended by the United States Bureau of Animal Industry. This is very effective and inexpensive. Scabby sheep should be dipped a week or ten days after shearing; two dippings are necessary at the interval of ten days. After dipping, move to non-infected range or pastures.

TICK

(Louse Fly)

CAUSE: The tick that infects sheep has a very small head sunken into its round body. The head possesses a flexible trunk or snout that penetrates the skin. Through this trunk, the ticks derive their nourishment by sucking the blood from the body of the sheep. The tick is also provided with three pairs of legs. The female lays her young in the form of a spun egg (coc.o.o.n) which is oblong in shape and brown in color. This egg is cemented to the wool of sheep where young ticks are hatched in about four to six weeks.

SYMPTOMS: Long wooled sheep are more susceptible to this tick as their wool provides shelter for both the tick and its eggs. After shearing the sheep the ticks have a tendency to leave the body and to migrate to the legs or to unshorn lambs where their snouts or trunks pierce the skin which appears to become infected, producing a swelling and inflammation.

The infected sheep run, scratch and bite themselves. When these ticks become developed in large quant.i.ties, they produce a paleness of the mucous membranes of the eyes, mouth and nose, as the ticks suck large quant.i.ties of blood, which produces an anemic condition. The sheep become poor, weak and unthrifty.

TREATMENT: Satisfactorily treated by dipping infected sheep in Coal Tar dips or Emulsions of Crude Petroleum. Shearing the sheep has a good effect, but care must be exercised as the ticks then rapidly migrate to the lambs.

DISEASES OF POULTRY

Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

[Ill.u.s.tration: Photograph of several chickens.]

White Plymouth Rocks, Raycroft Farm, Adrian, Mich.

CHAPTER V

AIR SAC MITE

CAUSE: Produced by a parasite called Cylodites Nudus, which bears a close resemblance to the parasite causing mange or scabies in the domesticated animal. Owing to the peculiar construction of their breathing organs fowls are more susceptible to parasites than animals.