ASCITES IN RUMINANTS.
Causes: as in horse, tuberculosis, in sheep distomatosis, chills when heated and fatigued. Symptoms: pot-belly, fluctuating on percussion, gives flat sound, debility, pallid mucosæ, sunken eyes, superficial dropsies on belly, in limbs, and under jaw, in distomatosis, great emaciation, weakness, paperskin, ova of distoma in fæces. Diagnosis: from ruptured bladder by passage of urine, and perhaps by sex, and absence of urinous odor in liquid, from hydrometra by fluctuation over whole belly. Lesions: those of solipeds, also tubercles or enlarged gall ducts with distomata. Treatment: as for solipeds. Tuberculosis demands separation or destruction, distomatosis, prevention.
Causes. These are in the main those which operate in the horse and need not be repeated. In cattle, however, the affection is to a large extent the result of abdominal tuberculosis, while in sheep it is a constant result of advanced distomatosis. Gellé says it is common in working oxen, which are turned out, hot and perspiring, to pass the night in cold and wet.
Symptoms. The belly is enlarged and pendent, bulging out back of the ribs, with fluctuation and dullness on percussion. The animal is in very low condition, the mucosæ pale or yellowish white, the eyes dull and sunken, panting and palpitations may be roused on the least exertion, and swellings often appear along the lower aspect of the body and between the branches of the lower jaw. In distomatosis it is common to find dropsy of the chest, pallor and attenuation of the skin, complete absence of the subcutaneous fat (paperskin), and great emaciation and weakness. Ova of the distoma can be found in the fæces. (See distomatosis). By turning the sheep on its back or setting it up on its croup the percussion dullness will be made to shift, always to the dependent part of the abdomen.
Diagnosis. From rupture of the bladder it is distinguished, by its occurrence in females as well as males, by the absence of fever, and of the complete suppression of urine and emptiness and tenderness of the bladder which characterize the latter. Liquid drawn from the abdomen has no urinous odor. From hydrometra, pyometra, and hydramnios it is distinguished by the fact that the water accumulates in the lower part of the abdomen, and is not confined to the womb. On rectal exploration the outline of the empty womb is made out.
Lesions. Besides the lesions described for solipeds, one finds in cattle, tuberculosis of the liver, spleen, and lymph glands, and extensive clusters of tubercles on the peritoneum. In sheep the white branching lines on the back of the liver may indicate the distension of gall ducts infested by distomata.
Treatment does not differ from that recommended for solipeds. In tuberculous cases, sanitary considerations demand the destruction of the animal and disinfection of the carcass. In distomatosis treatment must be preventive, as the distomata are difficult to reach with vermifuges.