DYSENTERY.
This malady may be treated in the same manner as diarrhœa. Should blood and slime be voided in large quantities, the excrement emit a fetid odor, and the animal waste rapidly, then, in addition to the mucilaginous drink, administer the following:—
| Powdered charcoal, | 1 tea-spoonful. |
| Powdered golden seal, | half a tea-spoonful. |
To be given, in hardhack tea, as occasion may require.
A small quantity of charcoal, given three times a day, with boiled food, will frequently cure the disease, alone.
Dysentery is sometimes mistaken for diarrhœa; but they may be distinguished by the following characteristics:—
1st. Diarrhœa most frequently attacks weak animals; whereas dysentery ofttimes attacks animals in good condition.
2d. Dysentery generally attacks sheep in the hot months; on the other hand, diarrhœa terminates at the commencement of the hot season.
3d. In diarrhœa, there are scarcely any feverish symptoms, and no straining before evacuation, as in dysentery.
4th. In diarrhœa, the excrement is loose, but in other respects natural, without any blood or slime; whereas in dysentery the fæces consist of hard lumps, blood, and slime.
5th. There is not that degree of fetor in the fæces, in diarrhœa, which takes place in dysentery.
6th. In dysentery, the appetite is totally gone; in diarrhœa, it is generally better than usual.
7th. Diarrhœa is not contagious; dysentery is supposed to be highly so.
8th. In dysentery, the animal wastes rapidly; but by diarrhœa, only a temporary stop is put to thriving, after which it makes rapid advances to strength, vigor, and proportion.