CHAPTER VI.—PART III.

DISEASES OF LOCOMOTION AND SKIN

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.