PSEUDOMEMBRANOUS (CROUPOUS) ENTERITIS IN SHEEP.
Causes: As in cattle, draughts in folds, overfeeding. Symptoms: fever, inappetence, weakness of hind parts, diarrhœa, tenesmus, false membranes, blood in stools, tympany. Treatment: change diet of dam, exercise, Glauber salts, potassium iodide, bismuth, flaxseed, elm bark, mallow, gum, carminatives, bitters, antiseptics.
Causes. The same causes are claimed as for cattle. Clavel attributed it to too rich milk, and exposure to cold draughts, in folded lambs.
Symptoms. To the general symptoms of fever are added refusal of the teat, weakness or paresis of the hind limbs, looseness of the bowels and the ejection of false membranes with an unusual amount of straining. The dejections may be watery and mixed with blood. In some cases defecation is suppressed, the intestines being blocked by the membranes, and then acute indigestion and fatal tympany may follow.
The pathological anatomy and lesions resemble those seen in the ox.
Treatment. Change the diet of the ewe, and allow more outdoor exercise. Give the lamb Glauber salts (½ to 1 oz.) with potassium iodide (10 grs.), and bismuth (1 dr.). Decoctions of flaxseed, or solutions of elm bark, mallow or gum arabic are desirable, and infusions of aromatic plants or oils of peppermint, anise, or fennel may be added with quinia. As in the other animals such antiseptics as salol, naphthol, naphthalin, boric acid, or salicylate of soda may be administered.