—A symptom caused by worms in the windpipe; oftenest seen in young chicks and turkeys. Birds droop, cough, and lower their wings. A feather moistened, but not dripping, with kerosene or oil of turpentine is the commonest remedy. Cleanliness of food, water and quarters is the great preventive. Poultry men who keep their chicks on ground not used for chick raising the previous year, and who insist on strictest cleanliness, report highly satisfactory results in avoiding gapes.
GARGET.
—A swelling, accompanied by inflammation of the udder. It may be caused by kicks or blows, by germs getting into the udder, or as a result of holding the milk too long. Do not use the milk when the udder is affected. For garget rub with hot camphorated oil twice a day. Give as medicine 8 tablespoonfuls of hyposulphite of soda each day, either in the feed or in a drench. Keep up the treatment for two weeks.
GASTRITIS.
—A rather uncommon disease in domestic animals and the result of a disturbance in the stomach, with inflammation following, caused by irritating substances, usually of a poisonous nature. A common symptom is nausea and pain like colic. Indeed, the ordinary outward signs of colic are observed. At first the pulse is strong, which weakens, and runs rapidly, from 80 to 100 beats a minute. As the disease progresses the pulse becomes irregular and the animal dull and listless. Treatment consists of simple agents. If the disturbance is due to some potassium compound, give oil; if to ammonia, give vinegar; if from turpentine, give oil and opium, the opium in teaspoonful doses every couple hours. After recovery, let only easily digested food be provided.
GID IN SHEEP.
—A disease of the brain due to a worm in the brain substance. This worm, known as the bladder worm, is a form of the tape-worm of the dog at an early stage of its existence. The eggs of this worm, on being swallowed, are hatched in the stomach, from which they enter into the circulation, finally lodging in the brain and spinal cord. Those that lodge elsewhere, as in the heart and lungs, grow for a time and then disappear. The most conspicuous symptom is the staggering, stupefied condition of the affected animal.
In walking, if a single side is affected, a circle is described. The feet are raised as if the animal did not see well. In many cases blindness results. The growth of the worm is somewhat rapid. In about three weeks after the appearance of the disease a softened condition of the skull results, which may be found by pressing the fingers over it. From this it will be observed that there is practically no treatment for animals affected. Occasionally the skin is accidentally broken over the point where the worm is encysted, out of which it emerges and the sheep recovers.
Treatment, therefore, is along the line of this natural recovery. Find the soft spot by pressing the fingers over the skull, then introduce the trocar and canula. Withdraw the trocar, apply a syringe to the canula, and withdraw the contents of the cyst within. Of course, inflammation of the brain may set in and the sheep die from this, or another worm may be present and grow, thus causing continued disease. Inasmuch as the bladder worm of sheep is a stage of the tape-worm of the dog, it follows that destroying all affected sheep, so as to prevent the dogs from becoming reinfested from it, is the only really safe and satisfactory method of warding off the trouble.