QUITTORFistulous wounds on any part of the coronet are usually the result of a tread or bruise. If neglected serious trouble may result.
QUITTOR
Fistulous wounds on any part of the coronet are usually the result of a tread or bruise. If neglected serious trouble may result.
Clean the foot and put it into a bran poultice for several days, then remove any horn that may be pressing on the sore part. If it is at the heel remove the crust with a knife; if it is in front of the hoof rasp it thin. Then probe the opening at the top to find the depth and direction. Put a grain of bichloride of mercury into tissue paper and roll it into a cone and press it down to the bottom of the opening. Treat all the openings in the same way. Put the foot into a bag to protect it frominjury and let it alone for three days, then clean out the openings and put in some more of the bichloride of mercury, and so on for two weeks, or until the parts become healthy and the hard swelling has decreased; then make up a bath of chloride of zinc one ounce, cool water one gallon; put the foot into this twice a day for twenty minutes at a time. As soon as the openings are healed blister the coronet with the following: Mix 2 teaspoonfuls of cantharides with 4 tablespoonfuls of lard; repeat in two weeks if necessary. When it is time to put on the shoe and work the horse, a bar shoe will be best. If the animal has much fever in the early stages of the disease give a dose of aloes, and follow this by giving 2 tablespoonfuls of nitrate of potassium twice a day in bran mash. Later in the disease give a teaspoonful of sulphate of iron once a day in bran mash as a tonic.
—SeeHydrophobia.
—A disease which affects the muscles or joints, wandering from one part of the body to another. It affects nearly all animals, including the horse, ox, dog, hog, and sheep. Rheumatism of the muscles is usually due to catching cold, while rheumatism of the joints is often due to some micro-organism.
Stiffness, which usually comes on suddenly, is a characteristic symptom. The animal may be able to move only with great difficulty. The joints may crack when moved, the affected muscles are hard and painful to touch, the soreness may shift from one part to another; and the animal sometimes makes a quick recovery, only to be followed by another attack in a short time or perhaps never again. These symptoms may be associated with a rise in body temperature and increased pulse.The disease may last for a long time or only for a few days. In chronic cases the muscles decrease in size in the parts affected. In the dog it is very painful when caused to move and he will howl, or even howl when he thinks he is going to be moved. In sheep it seldom occurs except in young lambs. Pigs are often affected in the legs or back, sometimes becoming paralyzed in the hind legs.
usually shows very rapid swelling, increased heat, and is very painful. The animal is often so lame that it will not put any weight on the foot of the affected limb.
For horses and cows, treatment consists of local applications of alcohol 50 parts and oil of mustard 1 part, rubbing it in well; or spirits of camphor. Give at the same time internally 1 teaspoonful of potassium iodide twice daily and not to exceed 12 doses; or salicylate of soda 4 tablespoonfuls daily. Keep the animal warm and in a well-ventilated stable. Pigs or dogs, according to size, should be given from 4 to 16 grains of salol, also using the above local applications.
—A growth of bone on the pastern bone, just above the hoof. It causes lameness when it interferes with the joint or the passage of any of the tendons. Some horses are predisposed to bony diseases from the least injury, while others are not, and in selecting mares for breeding purposes the former should be rejected. This disease results from strains, bruises, or injuries to the cartilage of the joints. When the membrane of the bone or cartilage becomes inflamed there may be great lameness for several months before any enlargement takes place, and it is somewhat difficult to detect. The absence of other diseases of the foot, with some heat in the pasterns, and soreness onpressure or moving the joints indicates this disease. In other cases the enlargement may make its appearance for some time before the horse becomes lame, and in some cases it may never cause any lameness, but should always be looked upon with suspicion, as in the majority of cases it sooner or later causes lameness. Ringbone is more difficult to cure on the fore feet than on the hind ones, as the pasterns are more upright on the former than on the latter, and, besides, the horse’s fore legs have to bear two-thirds the weight of the body.
The horse should have rest, and the shoes should be removed and the foot pared level. If there is heat in the part, keep it wet with the following lotion by means of a bandage saturated with it: Acetate of lead half an ounce and water one quart. Continue this for a few days, then apply a blister composed of cantharides 2 teaspoonfuls, biniodide of mercury 1 teaspoonful and lard 8 tablespoonfuls. Rub on a third of this with the fingers. It is not necessary to cut off the hair if the blister is well rubbed in. Let it remain on for 24 hours, then wash off and rub on a little lard. Repeat every second week until three blisters have been applied. Keep the horse’s head tied while the blister is on so that he cannot get his mouth to the part. The horse should have a few months’ rest after this treatment. If it does not cure the animal it is best to have him fired by a qualified veterinarian.
—This is common in the domestic animals, especially in calves and young cattle, and is contagious. It depends upon the presence of a vegetable parasite, which develops and grows rapidly when it finds a suitable place for development. Ringworm may affect any part of the body, but its favorite seat is around the eyes, the face,ears, and neck of cattle, and sometimes the back and hindquarters.
A gray crust appears on the skin, and the hair drops out. This keeps spreading in the form of a ring until around the eyes, the side of the face, ears, or neck may be covered with it. It appears in the same way on the back, hips, and inside of the hind legs. It does not seem to affect the health of the animal, as it is found in the well-kept as well as those poorly kept.
First remove the crusts by washing with warm water in which one ounce of carbonate of potassium has been put to every quart of water. A brush should be used in washing the parts. Then use the following: Iodine 2 teaspoonfuls and vaseline 4 tablespoonfuls. Rub a little of this on with a gloved hand. Repeat in three days. Or mix carbolic acid 1 ounce with 2 ounces of alcohol and apply a little of this to the parts with a feather once or twice; this last is very effective.
—A disease, due to the wasting of the larynx; is characterized by loud, unnatural sounds after any violent exertion. The disease sometimes follows distemper and influenza or a local injury to the throat. Once established the disease is incurable. In its early stages repeated light blisters may help. A common blister can be made of a half teaspoonful of cantharides, a half teaspoonful of biniodide of mercury and 4 tablespoonfuls of vaseline or lard.
—A disease of the mucous membrane in fowls. It is of the nature of an inflammation, with a discharge from the eyes and nostrils usually accompanying. Damp and unsanitary quarters favor the development and spread of roup. It is clearly a germ disease, and, therefore, contagious. It isspread by means of infected quarters and fowls. All discharges must be destroyed by disinfection, and the diseased fowls quarantined off by themselves. The dead should be burned. Keep the quarters light and airy; admit an abundance of sunshine and fresh air. Feed wholesome, nutritious food, that the poultry stock may ward off the disease. The best treatment is that which prevents spreading to healthy fowls. If an outbreak occurs, disinfect thoroughly, liberally, and continuously. Antiseptics administered about the head will usually break up the disease. Creolin is good—say, 1 part to 100 parts of water. Kerosene is also recommended.
In a sense, roup is the result of neglected colds. The birds sneeze, and manifest their uneasiness as animals do with common colds. A teaspoonful of pure carbolic acid to each gallon of drinking water is an excellent preventive and can be provided at small cost.
—A crack found in any part of the wall of the foot. The crack is due to over-exertion. When the hoof is dry and hard and brittle, the crack usually begins at the top and extends downward. Frequently the sensitive tissue creeps into the crack, causing pain, and from which blood frequently issues. When a crack is first seen, the feet should be poulticed with linseed meal for a few days. This will remove the inflammation and soften the hoof. The next step will be to pare out a piece of the hoof at the top, separating it completely from the coronary band a half inch or so on each side of the crack down to the quick. Fill this hole with tar. A bar shoe attached so as not to rest on the wall where the crack is located is very helpful.
A CATTLE BATH TUBThe tank here shown is used for dipping the cattle for treatment of mange. The dipping tank is now generally used throughout the West.
A CATTLE BATH TUB
The tank here shown is used for dipping the cattle for treatment of mange. The dipping tank is now generally used throughout the West.
—Scab or itch, sometimes called mange of cattle, is caused by a minute mite that lives upon the surface of the skin, burrowing into it. Other animals are not attacked by this parasite, although a similar one does afflict sheep. So long as cattle are doing well on grass, no disturbance is noticed. As soon, however, as they are placed on dry food and cold weather sets in, the disease appears, and, if the cattle do poorly, develops into a very aggravating form. Old cattle are less troubled, the attacks being more frequently on calves and yearlings and two-year-olds out of condition. In the early stages the itching of the skin in the region of the neck or shoulders is first noticed. This is indicated by theanimals digging at the skin with teeth and horns and the constant rubbing against posts or barbed wire or anything that may give relief at the time. The disease gradually spreads along the back, sides and outside of legs. In the early stages the coat looks rough, the skin has a scurvy appearance. In time, the hair comes off or is rubbed off, presenting bald patches of thick, glazed and wrinkled skin. After the hair comes off the parasites leave these regions, seeking other quarters and then the hair grows in again. There is a dejected and debilitated condition in animals thus afflicted and they fail rapidly in flesh. Their appetites are poor and most of their time is expended in scratching themselves.
Scab spreads rapidly through a bunch of cattle, especially if they are not thrifty, and disseminates itself through a herd in four to six weeks. The thrifty, vigorous animals resist the infection for some time, but they gradually succumb. The disease is spread by direct contact and by contact with infected quarters. While the mites will live a week or ten days in protected places, they are almost immediately destroyed by direct sunlight. As soon as the disease is discovered in a bunch of cattle, the infected animal should be isolated and the infected quarters and rubbing posts disinfected with a 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid. Infected animals should be well fed and cared for, and be salted with a mixture of 1 pound of flowers of sulphur mixed with 10 pounds of common salt. External treatment is necessary to affect a cure. If a large number of cattle are affected, a dipping wash through which the animals must swim in the dip is the best means for destroying the mites.
The most efficient remedies, considering cost, are the coal tar products advertised as dip solutions.A homemade dip that is both cheap and effective for treating a small number of animals may be made of 3 pounds of flowers of sulphur, 21⁄2pounds of unslaked lime, 15 gallons of water. In making this unslaked lime into a thick paste, sift in the sulphur and stir well. Put this mixture in a kettle with, say, five gallons of water and boil for at least half an hour—a longer time is better. When the chocolate-looking mass settles, the clear liquid is drawn off and water enough is added to make 15 gallons. The dip will be more effective if used when warm, just a bit hotter than the normal heat of the body. After the animals are dipped, they should remain in the solution about two minutes. This will be time enough to thoroughly saturate the scabs and destroy them. A couple of ablutions are required for complete eradication. When no treatment is resorted to, the dip should be applied with a scrubbing brush, cloth or sponges and all scabs and crusts should be thoroughly saturated. Warm sunny days are preferable for this kind of work.
—A diseased condition at the attachment of the navel cord soon after birth. It is a good plan just after birth to apply some septic powder to the navel at the breaking point. If trouble arises, apply a solution of carbolic acid, 1 part to 20 parts of water, after using some hydrogen peroxide. A little iodoform and alum, mixed half and half, make a good dusting powder to use also.
—SeeBot Flies.
—On either side of the coffin bone there is a cartilage which may in certain cases become hardened by deposits of mineral matters, which may thus lead to lameness. Side bones aresituated on one or both sides of the leg and bulge above the upper portion of the hoof. They may be the result of inflamed conditions, bruises or troubles like corns or hoof cracks. Slipping on the stony pavement is a frequent cause, as well as the great weight of the bodies in heavy horses. If the wagon tongue falls on the foot at this point, the cartilage may be injured and induce the disease. The swelling is first noticed just above the hoof or near the heel. Lameness soon follows.
SIDE BONESWhen the cartilages on either side of the foot of a horse just at the top of the hoof and close to the heel turn to bone, side bones are the result.
SIDE BONES
When the cartilages on either side of the foot of a horse just at the top of the hoof and close to the heel turn to bone, side bones are the result.
The treatment usually recommended for side bones consists in the free use of cold foot baths or cold water bandages for a week or more. Tincture of iodine applied to the swollen parts is very good. A blister applied after the water applications have been made for a week or so, is used by many veterinarians. The blister is made of 2 teaspoonfuls of cantharides mixed with 4 tablespoonfuls of lard. It is rubbed in well with the fingers and allowed to remain for 24 hours, when it is washed off and applied a second time the following week. These applications are continued until the lameness disappears. If this does not bring permanent relief,then firing of the injured parts and several months’ rest will be necessary.
—Some kinds of food cause an unnatural flow of saliva. Fresh crimson clover hay is one of these. Of course the continual flow of saliva is undesirable and unpleasant. It is unnatural and should be checked as soon as possible. This can be accomplished by changing the feed and then washing the mouth out with alum water. If a change is not observed soon, give a good physic. For horses use 8 teaspoonfuls of bitter aloes, a teaspoonful of common soda and a teaspoonful of ginger. Mix these in a pint of water and give as a drench. For cattle, dissolve a pound of Epsom salts, a tablespoonful of common soda and a tablespoonful of ginger in a quart of lukewarm water and give as a drench.
—SeeColic.
—This disease, known in common language as bone spavin, is an enlargement of the hock joint similar to a ringbone about the coronary joint. It may affect the hock joint in such a way as to cement the small joints together, not causing lameness, and apparently no blemish, but the free movement of the limb is impaired. Any condition which favors sprains, such as fast driving over hard or uneven roads, unequal paring of the hoof, thus causing the weight to be unequally distributed in the joints, and severe labor in early life, or blows, bruises, or any injuries to tendons, ligaments, or joints may cause spavin. In addition to these causes may be mentioned sprains caused by jumping, galloping, or trotting animals faster than they are accustomed to; also straining by starting a heavy load, slipping on an icy surface or sliding on a bad pavement.
If the patient is examined before any bony growth has developed, inflammation will be detected on the inside of the hock joint at the junction of the cannon bone and the joint. While in the stable the horse prefers to rest the diseased leg by setting the heel on the toe of the opposite foot with the hock joint flexed. In traveling the patient is very lame when first taken out of the barn, but after traveling for a short distance goes sound. The diseased leg is not lifted clear from the ground, but nicks the toe in the middle of the stride, which is very noticeable on a pavement. A strained horse becomes very lame after being allowed to stand for even a very short time, then moved again.
Preventive treatment consists in keeping horses’ feet trimmed properly, not overworking colts while young, careful driving on hard or uneven roads, and avoiding all injuries that are liable to strain tendons, ligaments or joints of the limbs. Even after a spavin has developed it may be cured by proper treatment of the feet, and applying a fly blister. The fly blister is prepared by mixing thoroughly 4 tablespoonfuls of pulverized cantharides, 4 tablespoonfuls of biniodide of mercury and 8 ounces of lard. The hair is clipped over the spavin and the blister applied with considerable rubbing. The horse’s head should be tied so as to avoid his biting the part blistered. A second application of the blister is to be used about a month after the first. If blistering fails to cure the spavin, point-firing may be resorted to. It is necessary to “fire” rather deeply to secure good results, care being taken not to fire into a joint. After firing, a fly blister should be rubbed into the holes where the hot iron has been used.
—The removal of the ovaries to prevent breeding. Cast the animal on her right side. Give an anesthetic to prevent pain. When the animal is unconscious, free the limbs sufficiently to remove any pressure from the abdomen. Now pinch up a fold of the skin in the left side, midway between the prominent bone of the haunch or pelvis, and the last rib, about 4 inches below the backbone. Make an incision in the skin 5 or 6 inches long; now do likewise with the abdominal muscles until the lining membrane of the abdominal cavity is exposed. This membrane is then punctured and an incision made as long as that in the skin and muscles. Now kneel down in close contact with the cow’s back and insert the arm, passing the hand within the brim or cavity of the pelvis. By so doing both ovaries can be secured and detached. This ended, the operation of uniting the abdominal muscles follows by means of stitches and sutures.
Great care is necessary in having the instruments boiled and washed in antiseptics, and in having the fingers, hands, and arms severely clean and well saturated with a strong antiseptic solution. The operation should be made out in the open where neither dirt nor dust are to be found. Extreme care about germs will remove much of the risk associated with the operation.
In spaying a sow, she is laid on an inclined board with the hindquarters up. The operator stands at the back of the sow. The hair is first clipped from the skin where the incision is to be made, high up in the flank and midway between the haunch and the last rib. The incision needs to be just large enough to admit the two fingers. Ovaries are located, pulled through the opening in the flank, and removed by tearing off with the fingers. Theflank incision is then closed by the necessary number of stitches.
This operation is sometimes performed in mares. But being rather uncommon the process is less understood. In this case it is best to call your veterinarian or someone in the community well skilled in the operation. In all cases of spaying let severe cleanliness be the rule and practice, from the very beginning to the very end.
SPLINT
SPLINT
—Splints occur more commonly in the heavier breeds of horses than in those that are light in the bone below the knee. It is rare that splints occur anywhere except on the inside of the front cannon bone, although they are sometimes seen on the outside of both the front and hind legs. Any enlargement of the bone occurring on the inside of the leg between the knee and fetlock comes under the name of splint. The usual cause is concussion, that is, the impact of the foot on the hard road. It may be the result of other causes, such as a blow, a twisting strain or faulty conformation. Some animals are more liable to splints than others. It is, after all, to a certain extent, dependent upon heredity. At first the splint is hard to detect. If you notice a young horse going lame while doing road work, it is well to examine for splints. While working there seems to be no lameness at all, and when standing there seems to be no pain,but when put to a trot the horse shows lameness and may raise and lower his head.
If taken in time, a splint can be cured. The first thing to do with an animal suffering from a splint is to give the animal rest and place in such quarters where there is a soft floor, preferably the ground, and when so quartered one very frequently effects a complete cure. The application of cold water bandages acts well. If treatment of this sort fails, apply a blister of red iodide of mercury, 1 tablespoonful to 2 tablespoonfuls of lard. This blister should be applied with rubbing every day from two to four days, or until the area is well blistered. Then wait until the little scabs fall off, and if the animal is still lame, repeat the application of this blister. To apply the blister, clip off the hair over the enlargement and wash with vinegar to remove grease, then rub in blister with ends of fingers. Keep the animals tied short for two to four days in order to prevent rubbing or biting the leg. Four days after the last application of blister, wash carefully with warm water and soap and over it apply every day or so a little lard, to prevent drying and also to loosen the scabs.
—Injuries to the ligaments of joints, tendons, or muscles. They are caused by violence, as twisting, or from over-exertion; also sprains are often the result of overwork. If an animal is worked until tired or exhausted he is unable to use the proper muscle force, and more strain has to be borne by the ligaments, resulting in sprains, which often occur in young horses or even in old horses, when put to work after long periods of rest. Swelling, heat, soreness, and partial or complete loss of the use of the part, which is shown by the degree of lameness, characterize the disorder.Sprains are most common in the legs, at the fetlock joint, in the tendons just back and above the fetlocks, but may occur in any part.
The first and most important thing in the treatment of sprains is rest, as sprains are a long time in making a complete recovery. In the early stages, that is, before swelling has taken place, applications of cold water should be used, applications of hot water, or hot packs of water, 1,000 parts, and bichloride of mercury 1 part, are very good. This will relieve the pain and reduce the swelling. Applications of liniments are also very good. Should there be great heat and soreness in the part, it is well to use cold applications. Never blister in the early stages. A blister may be used after the swelling has gone down, and the part has become cold, from two to four weeks after the injury occurred. This should be followed by rest for some time after all lameness has disappeared.
—Staggers in horses is an affection of the brain showing itself usually in one of two forms—sleepy or stomach staggers and blind or mad staggers. In the first form the stomach is at fault. Sudden change of feed, moldy or dirty food heavy work or fast driving right after a heavy meal or severe exposure is liable to cause indigestion in the stomach and this is reflected to the brain, causing the animal to act dull or sleepy, sometimes showing symptoms of serious colic, with gas forming from the fermentation of the food, frequently resulting in death.
Blind or mad staggers is an inflammation of the brain and may affect any of the lower animals. In the beginning of this form the symptoms closely resemble those in the stomach form, but as the inflammation progresses the animal becomes blindand violent and may roll, paw, kick, wander around in a circle, usually going only one way, either to the left or right, or it may walk or run in a straight line as near as possible for hours at a time—paying no attention to injuries received in its travels. In either case the animal may be drenched once daily with a quart of raw linseed oil or a pound of Glauber salts, dissolved in water, which sometimes gives relief.
is mostly caused by the young stage of a tapeworm which infests sheep dogs. The dog eats the infected brain of the sheep and the sheep eats the egg of the tapeworm after it has passed through the dog. After the egg hatches in the stomach of the sheep the young worm passes through the bowels and other organs or tissues or circulates through the blood and reaches the brain, where it develops and causes an inflammation, resulting in disease. It is most common in young animals, rarely occurring in sheep after their second year.
Prevention is about the only practical way of handling this trouble. The grounds should be thoroughly drained, allowing the animals only pure, fresh water to drink. It may be necessary to change pastures for a year or two. The brains of all sheep killed and the heads of all dying with the disease should be burned.
—If a box of salt is kept covered in some place frequented by the sheep, to which they are allowed to help themselves, and if said salt is saturated with spirits of turpentine in proportions of a gill to every four quarts of salt, it will wonderfully help to keep the worms from multiplying. It is well, also, to have another box of larger size, wheresheep can help themselves at will, filled with tobacco stems. These stems should be cut up in inch lengths and from time to time a quantity of wheat bran should be put on top of the stems. When this is done the sheep soon instinctively learn to use tobacco, and no young intestinal worm or stomach worm, except the tapeworm, can stand the diet. This will not kill mature worms. It will only prevent the worm family multiplying to the extent of injuring the health of sheep.
TWISTED STOMACH WORMSA common attitude observed when sheep are afflicted with twisted stomach worms. The animal loses in flesh, and unless relief is found in time, dies. The parasite is shown in the illustration.
TWISTED STOMACH WORMS
A common attitude observed when sheep are afflicted with twisted stomach worms. The animal loses in flesh, and unless relief is found in time, dies. The parasite is shown in the illustration.
But no sheep owner should feel wholly satisfied by preventive treatment of stomach worms. Twice a year the whole flock should be drenched with some agent which will destroy the mature worms.There are two very inexpensive drenches which will quite effectually do this. The one is gasoline, the other coal tar creosote. The objection to gasoline is that it needs to be so extremely carefully used or sheep will be killed by it. The dose is 1 tablespoonful (never more at one dose) to a mature sheep; mix with not less than 4 tablespoonfuls of raw linseed oil (never boiled oil); then add a half pint of sweet milk. In giving, set the sheep up on its haunches and shake the liquids well together until the last minute it is administered, or the gasoline will separate and, if it enters the stomach in the unmixed form, it will seriously injure and may kill the sheep.
There is no direct vermifuge that will as effectually kill all species of worms in a sheep’s stomach and intestines as will gasoline; yet the coal tar creosote or the more refined class of sheep dips, if given after a full 12-hour fast, before the flock is turned to pasture in the spring, and again about November, will destroy a large number of the mature worms. All lambs born in April or May should be drenched about August or September following, to be certain of ridding them of worms that may later cause their death. The dose of any of the sheep dips is a dessertspoonful mixed in a full pint of water.
—SeeConcretions or Calculi of Urinary Organs.
—This trouble, commonly called colt distemper, affects horses, and rarely mules and donkeys. It is such an infectious disease that nearly all horses contract the disease when colts and usually remain immune to future exposures. The cause is a very small organism or germ which enters the system when a healthy colt comes incontact with a diseased one or when fed and watered in infected vessels. The seat of trouble is largely restricted to the respiratory organs, occasionally causing difficulty in breathing, owing to swelling in region of throat or to accumulations in air passages.
The symptoms start out with more or less sluggishness. The animal eats little, and does not care to take much exercise. A little watery discharge frequently appears from the eyes, and about the same time a watery discharge from the nostrils, which soon becomes thicker and more yellow in color. Usually the glands between the lower jawbones become enlarged and undergo suppuration with a rupture of them and free discharge of pus. The temperature of the animal may be slightly or very greatly increased from 103° to 105°. The pulsations may also be considerably quickened. When complications do not occur this disease usually runs its course in two weeks, leaving the animal little the worse for having passed through the affliction.
The milder forms of this disease will need little or no treatment other than careful feeding and nursing. A laxative diet, with something green, if possible, should be given. The colt should be placed in clean, airy, and comfortable quarters, but not in a draft. To hasten the suppuration of the glands a poultice of hot bran or flaxseed may be applied to that region, and as soon as softening can be detected within, puncture the gland containing abscess with a clean knife blade and allow the escape of the collection of pus. During the course of the disease the animal should not be worked and care should be taken that it be not exposed to conditions likely to produce a cold.
—Stringhalt is an involuntary contraction of the muscles that bring the hind leg or legs forward. The cause of stringhalt is a deranged condition of the nerves supplying the muscles, causing the leg or legs to be brought up with a jerk. In slight cases of stringhalt it is necessary sometimes to turn the animal round from right to left, and from left to right, in order to make him show signs of stringhalt, the symptoms of the disease being exhibited as he turns one way only. This disease sometimes comes on suddenly, but generally develops slowly. It is an unsoundness, and depreciates the animal’s value and makes him unfit for hard work or fast driving. There is no sure cure for stringhalt; the animal can sometimes be relieved by giving him one ounce bromide of potassium at a dose twice a day in bran mash, and continuing it for one week, then skipping a week and giving again. It can sometimes be relieved by cutting the tendon or tendons of the affected muscles, but the operation should be performed by a qualified veterinarian.
—SeeHeat Exhaustion and Sunstroke.
—This disease, by some called infectious anemia of horses, is produced by an invisible organism, which is transmissible to horses, mules, and asses. About the first symptoms noticed are a general weakness of the animal; it tires very easily and is not able to do any work. The loss of flesh is apparent in spite of the voracious appetite which the animal has at times. The appetite usually remains good until death, but the feed seems to do the animal no good. The temperature is very irregular. Some days it runs quite high, at times to 107°; again it is below normal. Ananimal may have several attacks of the trouble, but each succeeding attack seems to be more severe. The blood becomes thin, and the circulation impaired, and frequently there appears a swelling under the chest or abdomen, or an enlargement of one or more legs. It is quite easy to recognize the trouble, especially in the advanced stages. The slow progress at the beginning, remittent fever, progressive emaciation and anemia, unimpaired or ravenous appetite, staggering gait, and excessive urination are usually all present to a greater or less degree. Recovery takes place only when treatment is begun early and when the disease is not too acute.
In treating, absolute rest until fully recovered is one of the primary requisites, and purgatives are to be avoided. For the fever, the United States Department of Agriculture recommends an antipyretic of quinine 40 grains, acetanilide 2 drams, and powdered nux vomica 30 grains, four times daily. Cold water sponge baths and frequent copious rectal injections of cold water also aid in reducing the fever. After the fever subsides the following is recommended: Arsenious acid, 2 grams; powdered nux vomica, 28 grams; powdered cinchona bark, 85 grams; powdered gentian root, 110 grams. These should be well mixed and one-half teaspoonful given at each feed of the affected animal.
As in the case of all other infectious diseases, the healthy should be separated from the sick horses, and thorough disinfection of the infected stable, stalls, litter, and stable utensils should be used by mixing six ounces of any one of these chemicals with one gallon of water. One of the approved coal-tar sheep dips might also be used to advantage in a five per cent solution, and should be applied liberally to all parts of the stable, and sufficient lime may beadded to the solution to make the disinfectant area conspicuous.
From the fact that the disease is more prevalent during wet seasons, it is always best to guard against allowing the animals to graze upon swampy land or to drink from ponds of stagnant water. The spread of the disease has been traced along creeks from one farm to another, which would suggest avoiding these places also. The draining of the low, swampy lands is especially recommended.
—Wasting of the muscles covering the shoulder blade of the horse is commonly called “sweeny,” and the cause may be any strain, sprain, jerk, or bruise of the parts due to a bad fitting collar, or to awkward steps of a colt plowing for the first time, and especially when worked in the furrow. The great nerves of the shoulder are affected, and in consequence nutrition is impaired and the muscles waste away. A similar condition may affect the muscles of the hip, or of the space between the stifle and hip.
Lameness seldom is a prominent feature in shoulder sweeny. Ordinarily the wasting comes on some time after the causative injury; then the skin alone appears to cover the bone (scapula) and the animal may have little power for work. In this connection it should be remembered that wasting of the shoulder muscles also may be due to any chronic lameness or soreness of the foot, or leg, between foot and shoulder. Wasting (atrophy) of muscles occurs when the muscles for any reason are not fully exercised. It, therefore, is important to make sure whether the cause is in the foot or in the shoulder before commencing treatment.
Treatment consists in stimulating flow of blood to the poorly nourished parts, and if this can be done the muscles gradually grow in again and regain their normal development and power. An old-fashioned plan is to make incisions in the skin and then blow up the parts with air to separate the skin from the bone. This should not be done. Setons (rowels) of tape may be inserted under the skin, but they leave scars. Better treatment consists in rubbing the parts twice daily with a stimulating liniment, or blistering at intervals of three weeks with cerate of cantharides, after removing the hair. A suitable liniment may be made by mixing together four ounces of druggist’s soap liniment, one ounce each of aqua ammonia and water to make one pint.
—SeeHog Cholera.
—The flat worms of domestic animals. They are most serious and common in sheep. Treatment is only partially satisfactory. To get any reasonable result food must be withheld for several hours before the medicine is given. Use the following: 1 teaspoonful of ethereal extract of male fern in four ounces of castor oil. It is desirable to keep the sheep inclosed, so that the ground can be disinfected after the worms are expelled, otherwise infection will occur right over again.
—SeeLockjaw.
TEXAS FEVERThe annual loss to the South, because of the cattle tick, extends into many millions of dollars. Investigations show that a complete extermination can be effected at a cost of $6 per farm.
TEXAS FEVER
The annual loss to the South, because of the cattle tick, extends into many millions of dollars. Investigations show that a complete extermination can be effected at a cost of $6 per farm.
—The earliest accounts that we have of this disease date back to 1814. It was found that cattle driven from a certain district in South Carolina to other parts of the state would infect others with the disease, while they themselves seemed to be in perfect health. The disease is known by various names in the different sections of the country. It is often calledred water, Spanish fever, Australian tick fever, and murain.
A TYPICAL CASE OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASEThe disease shows itself about the mouth, the feet and the teats. When an outbreak occurs all affected animals should be destroyed and all quarters thoroughly disinfected.
A TYPICAL CASE OF FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE
The disease shows itself about the mouth, the feet and the teats. When an outbreak occurs all affected animals should be destroyed and all quarters thoroughly disinfected.
This is a specific fever, and is characterized by the peculiarity among animal diseases that animals which scatter the infection are apparently in good health, while those which sicken and die from it do not, as a rule, infect others.
When the cattle are brought into the infected districts they usually contract the disease during the first of the summer, and if they are adult cattle, particularly milch cows or fat cattle, nearly all die; calves are more likely to survive. The disease is one from which immunity is acquired, and, therefore, calves which recover from the disease are not again attacked, as a rule, even after they become adult.
When the disease is prevalent or scattered beyond the infected district the roads, barns and pastures are dangerous until freezing weather, when the disease disappears and cattle can be kept in the grounds or driven over the roads without catching the disease. The midwinter months is the only time that cattle can be safely driven from an infected area to a non-infected area without spreading the disease.
—Texas fever is caused by an organism which lives within the red-blood corpuscles and breaks them up. It is not a bacteria, but a protozoa, and belongs to the lowest forms of the animal kingdom. How it gets into the blood corpuscles is not known. The fatality is due not so much to the loss of blood corpuscles as to the difficulty which the organs have in getting rid of the waste products arising from this wholesale destruction.
—After a period of exposure, which may vary from 13 to 90 days, thedisease first shows itself in dullness, loss of appetite and a tendency to leave the herd and lie down alone. A few days before these symptoms appear the temperature rises from 103° to 107°. There is little change in temperature until death or recovery.
—The presence of small ticks on the udder or escutcheon is a very important sign in herds north of the Texas fever line. The watery condition of the blood. The spleen or milt very much enlarged, and filled with a blackish pulp. Enlargement of the liver, and its color changed to a mahogany color. The distended gall-bladder, caused by an excessive amount of bile in it.
(Boophilus bovis) is the carrier of this disease. Its life history is quite simple. It is unable to come to maturity and reproduce its kind unless it becomes attached to the skin of cattle, whence it may obtain its food. The eggs laid on the ground by the female tick after falling off the cattle begin to develop at once. The time required for hatching varies considerably, according to the temperature. In the heat of summer about 13 days, and in the fall, under the same conditions, from four to six weeks. On pastures these little creatures soon find their way on to cattle. They attach themselves, by preference, to the tender skin on the escutcheon, the inside of the thighs, and on the base of the udder. When very numerous they may be found on various parts of the body. They remain clinging to the cattle until mature, and then fall off and lay their eggs and hatch more new ticks.
—The spread of Texas fever can be prevented by two ways—sanitaryarrangements and by vaccination. Where the cattle are infected with the tick, the ticks can be killed by smearing the animals with a solution capable of killing the ticks without harming the cattle. In large herds a large vat of crude petroleum is used to immerse the cattle in. In small herds smear the cattle with a mixture of equal parts of cottonseed oil and crude petroleum.
How to rid the pastures of the tick without killing the vegetation on them has for a long time been the problem. Divide the pasture in two parts by a double parallel line of fence with a 10-foot space between, to prevent ticks from crawling across. One of these pastures is then kept free of cattle for two winters and one summer. After the second winter it will be free of ticks and ready for tickless cattle, when the other pasture is abandoned for the same time.
Vaccination is for the purpose of immunizing cattle that are brought from a non-infected district to an infected district. Calves about six to eight months old should be used, as they are more immune than adult cattle. The immunity is caused by introducing the germ into the blood in a weakened form. This may be done in two ways—by placing virulent young ticks on the calves or by artificial vaccination. When this is practiced, it should be done in two or three inoculations, as it gives better results. The intervals should be about three weeks. The amount of virulent blood should be small the first time and increased in the following treatments.
The inoculation always results in a more or less serious attack of the fever upon the animal treated. Some may die, but the proportion of deaths resulting among animals taken directly into the infecteddistrict is large to the proportion of deaths resulting from vaccination. Medical treatment for this disease has proven unsatisfactory in the acute form, although in some chronic cases some good results may have been obtained by medical treatment.
—SeeLymphangitis.
—An enlargement situated on the sides and upper part of the hock joint of the horse, arising from a derangement of the sheath of the back tendon. The fluid with which it is filled can be pressed from one side to the other, hence the term thoroughpin. It seldom causes lameness. For treatment mix a teaspoonful of biniodide of mercury with 4 tablespoonfuls of lard. Rub on a little with the fingers, let it remain on for 24 hours, then wash off and rub on a little lard or vaseline. Repeat the blister every third week until the enlargement disappears. The horse should have rest while under treatment.
—A diseased condition of the secreting surface of the fatty frog in the foot. In severe cases the horny part often detaches from the sensitive tissue within. Bad shoeing is a common cause of the trouble, or anything else that prevents the frog from coming in contact with the ground. Lameness is sometimes associated with the disease. Treatment consists of careful cleaning, followed with linseed meal poultices if lame. After the foot is made dry, insert calomel into the little cavities. The calomel can be kept in and the dirt kept out by using paper or cloth plugs. Follow this treatment until normal condition is attained.
—This disease is limited in its action to pigs. Its cause is not definitely known. It is recognized by a peculiar contraction of the diaphragm in young pigs. While the pig may eat fairly wellthe disturbance is associated with digestion. Such patients like to lie around and take very little exercise. The disease is more common where one kind of food like corn is fed. The old common method was to cut off the ear. The common practice now is to give a purgative so as to relieve the stomach and bowels of accumulated material. The food should be changed and from 1 to 2 tablespoonfuls of Epsom salts should be given. The jerking movement of the muscles may be relieved or stopped by using laudanum, say, four drops to 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls of aromatic spirits of ammonia in a half pint of water.
—SeeTexas Fever.
—A disease caused by the trichina, a minute worm that affects people, hogs and rats. People become affected with the disease from raw or partly cooked pork. These worms are killed by thorough cooking or by the process of hot pickling and curing meat products.
Hogs become affected through eating offal and rats about the slaughterhouses. Hogs that are fed on green grass and other wholesome food, free from these minute worms, are less likely to have trichinæ embedded in their flesh and muscles. Hogs do not seem to be bothered with the trichinæ, but people suffer very severely, as both soreness in the muscles and fever result.
A few days after eating the trichinæ, the worms multiply very rapidly in the digestive tract, from which they migrate to other parts of the body and work their way through the tissues. There is no remedy in way of treatment when affected. Prevention is the one cure. Inasmuch as five to ten per cent of hogs are affected, it is advisable that allpork or ham be eaten only after most thorough cooking.
—Tuberculosis is a disease resulting from the growth of tubercle bacteria in the tissues of the animal. The bacteria, or germs, of tuberculosis, usually gain entrance to the organs of the body by being taken in with the food. Sometimes they penetrate through the membranes in the throat and get into the glands of the head. Sometimes they are taken into the digestive tract, where they pass through the walls of the intestines into the lymph channels and are carried through the large lymph vessel into the blood circulation. In some cases it would seem that the bacteria get into the lungs on particles of dust that are inhaled.