CHOKING.
Cause.—Vegetables such as potatoes, etc., roots, as carrots, turnips and sometimes pieces of bone or glass, lodge in the gullet. Paralysis of the muscular fibres of the gullet is a very common cause of choking in swine.
Symptoms.—The hog is unable to swallow, producing a frothing at the mouth and, if the obstruction cannot be dislodged, death occurs in a very short time. Sometimes the obstruction in the gullet may be felt from the outside with the hand.
Treatment.—The administration of small doses of Raw Linseed or Olive Oil, or Lard, will assist in dislodging the obstruction. Also careful manipulation of the gullet from the outside with the hand assists in either forcing it into the stomach or bringing it out through hog’s mouth. If vomiting can be produced, it will dislodge the obstruction. If immediate results are not obtained from the above treatments, I would recommend butchering the hog for meat immediately.
COLD IN THE HEAD.
(Nasal Catarrh)
Cause.—Exposure to cold; a very common condition in cold, wet weather when hogs are allowed to sleep in manure heaps, straw stacks, or pile up together, when they become over-heated and later chill. Nasal Catarrh may also be due to inhaling dust or irritating gases.
Symptoms.—The animal is stupid and feverish, coughing and sneezing frequently; appetite is poor, eyes watery and inflamed; a discharge of mucus from the nose will terminate in yellow pus and the nose, if examined, is found to be inflamed and ulcerated.
Treatment.—The best and safest treatment is to provide clean sleeping quarters, avoid overcrowding in dusty, dirty sheds, especially during cold weather. Pigs affected with cold in the head should be fed on laxative food, such as boiled carrots, potatoes, apples, hot wheat bran mashes and steamed rolled oats.
Medical Treatment.—Confine the affected hogs to a shed, close windows and doors and any large cracks; then compel them to inhale steam from the following mixture: Turpentine, eight ounces; Pine Tar, one pint; Water, two gallons. Place in tin receptacle in center of shed and heat the above solution by adding hot bricks or stones to the mixture occasionally. Compel the hogs to inhale this steam for at least thirty minutes twice a day. Give chlorate of Potash in twenty grain doses three times a day in feed or drinking water. This treatment is very successful if the inflammation has not extended to the lungs.
DIARRHOEA IN YOUNG PIGS.
(Scours)
Cause.—Decomposed foods, slops, etc., fed to the mothers, causing them to give toxic milk. Poorly ventilated, filthy, cold and damp pens, insufficient exercise, lack of sunlight, raising pigs by hand or with other sow.
Symptoms.—Frequent movement of the bowels, the passage being of a grayish-white color and the odor very disagreeable. At this stage of the disease, reliable remedies must be given or the pig will die very soon.
The discharge from the bowels becomes very thin, the tail and legs become soiled, loss of appetite, the pigs become weak and dull, hair rough and it is difficult for them to move about. In very young pigs, treatment is of little value.
Treatment.—As Scours in pigs is a disease frequently caused by faulty food and insanitary surroundings, a preventive treatment is of great importance, and much better results are thus obtained than by the use of medical agents. Medical treatment consists in first cleaning away the irritant present in the bowels. For this purpose give one to two teaspoonfuls of Castor Oil. At the time of farrowing all sows should receive a light diet and be kept in clean, dry quarters. The pigs should be allowed pure air, sunshine and exercise. If the sow appears hot and feverish, give one to three ounces of Castor Oil in milk or swill. Avoid feeding decomposed, moldy food, or sour milk. To check the diarrhoea in pigs, use the following after the irritant is removed or cleaned out as above stated: Zinc Sulphocarbolates, thirty grains; Protan, two ounces; Pulv. Gentian Root, two ounces. Make into sixty capsules or powders and give one, three or four times a day. The sow should receive a dose about eight times the size of that of the pigs.
HOG CHOLERA.
(Swine Fever)
Cause.—By the Bacillus Sius; contaminated food, stagnant water, filth, etc., all have a tendency to aid its progress. I have seen farms, although located in sections where Cholera was prevalent, not in the least troubled with the malady, perhaps due to careful feeding of clean foods, care in watering, cleanliness about the pens and sheds and disinfecting occasionally, but no doubt a better explanation is that those hogs received tonics, containing worm expellers, at least four times a year. Many a case of supposed Hog Cholera is due to worms irritating and producing inflammation of the intestines, followed by diarrhoea. A person not familiar with the disease calls this “hog cholera.” In other cases, hogs which are fed swills from restaurants, hotels, etc., containing soap, washing powders, small particles of glass, etc., will die with symptoms leading a person to think they had Hog Cholera, but if a thorough investigation is made the true cause of death can easily be discovered.
Symptoms.—In true Hog Cholera, the temperature will be elevated two to four degrees above normal. There will be a loss of appetite, vomiting, diarrhoea, although there may be constipation when the hog is first affected. The hog wanders off by itself to some cool, quiet place and lies down. When it walks it will stagger and show great stiffness in its hind parts, due to soreness of the intestines. The hair will have a roughened appearance, the back arched, the eyes inflamed and discharging pus, red blotches will show themselves back of the ears, inside the legs and on the abdomen. At this stage the diarrhoea is watery, dark and tinged with blood, and very offensive in odor, breathing is very fast and labored. The hog grows very weak and dies.
Treatment.—Prevention must always be borne in mind. Do not feed filthy food. Always feed good, wholesome food, and give clean water to drink. Watch the condition of hog’s bowels and regulate them by feeding. Burn manure and bedding and disinfect carefully. Do not permit your hogs to drink out of running streams of water, especially if Hog Cholera is in your neighborhood. When buying hogs, it is well to keep them off by themselves for two or three weeks, as they may be diseased. Do not permit neighbors, their stock or dogs on premises when Hog Cholera is raging, as the infection of Hog Cholera can be spread very rapidly by matter from the affected hogs adhering to the shoes of man, to the feet of stock and hogs, etc.
I am positive that if this method were properly practiced by all hog raisers and feeders, Hog Cholera would be a very rare disease.
Serum Treatment.—This is successful in some cases, and in others unsuccessful. The latter perhaps is due to poor serums, or the disease being so far advanced in its progress that the hogs are beyond recovery. Serum treatment is very expensive and, as it requires a strictly septic operation of injecting the serum, the average hog raiser or grower is not qualified to administer the treatment properly. An additional and necessary expense is the services of a Veterinary Surgeon. Therefore, I strongly urge adoption of preventive measures as stated. Use some good disinfectant, such as Crude Carbolic Acid, which destroys the Bacillus of Hog Cholera. Also administer hog regulator and tonic as prescribed on first page of this chapter. This will expel worms, tone the system, regulate the bowels and fortify your hogs against Hog Cholera.