CHAPTER II.—PART III.
DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
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.