CATARRH.
This is an inflammation of the mucous membrane, which lines the nasal passages, and it sometimes extends to the larynx and pharynx. In the first instance—where the lining of the nasal passages is alone and not very violently affected—it is merely accompanied by an increased discharge of mucus, and is rarely attended with much danger. In this form, it is usually termed snuffles; and high-bred English mutton-sheep, in this country, are apt to manifest more or less of it, after every sudden change of weather. When the inflammation extends to the mucous lining of the larynx and the pharynx, some degree of fever usually supervenes, accompanied by cough, and some loss of appetite. At this point, bleeding and purging are serviceable.
Catarrh rarely attacks the American fine-woolled sheep with sufficient violence in summer to require the application of remedies. Depletion, in catarrh, in our severe winter months, however, rapidly produces that fatal prostration, from which it is almost impossible to bring the sheep back, without bestowing an amount of time and care upon it, costing far more than the worth of an ordinary animal.
The best course is to prevent the disease by judicious precaution. With that amount of attention which every prudent farmer should bestow on his sheep, the American Merino is but little subject to it. Good, comfortable, and well-ventilated shelters, constantly accessible to the sheep in winter, with a sufficiency of food regularly administered, are usually a sufficient safeguard.