Symptoms.—As above indicated, the symptoms consist of various forms of turning, whirling around or standing still, etc. At first, when the hydatids are small, there may be but little or nothing to indicate their presence; but as they grow larger, they press upon the bone, and even enlarge or remove a great portion of it. One side of the head may be enormously enlarged, or the bone become quite thin, so that the situation of the cyst may be thus known, and sometimes a small hole may be discerned. The sacks are more frequently on the left side.
The first effects are: dullness, loss of spirits; they chew the cud slowly and carelessly; they keep aloof from the other sheep; they stagger when walking; stand before a pool of water looking into it, and sometimes tumble in and are drowned; sometimes when eating they appear as if frightened, and run over the field as if pursued; the head is held higher or lower, or carried on one side; the body, in moving, inclines to the same side; the sheep appear to wander about, and gradually lose flesh and strength; then they begin to turn round and round to one side; seem quite unconscious of everything around them; the round and round movements increase until they are almost constant, and the animal at length dies.
Treatment.—Puncturing through the skull into these cysts, when their presence is known by the swelling, is sometimes successful if the precise point is known and no other exists. Give A.A., a dose of two or five drops every night at first, and then at longer intervals. Few sheep treated survive and unless the animal is very valuable for breeding, it is better to slaughter as soon as the disease begins to appear. Although this disease is very hard to handle after it gets started, it can be easily prevented. The worm which gets into the brain is the larvæ of the tape worm of the dog, which the sheep gets from eating grass soiled by the dogs feces. The dog in turn gets this worm from the sheep by eating the brains which contain the larvæ. The remedy therefore is simple. Don’t feed uncooked sheeps brains to dogs.
CHAPTER III.—Part III.
DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF RESPIRATION
Cold, Catarrh
The nose and air-passages are lined with a delicate membrane, whose office it is to secrete a thin mucous which lubricates the parts. Under the influence of a chill, suppressed perspiration, etc., this membrane becomes irritated, inflamed, and the discharge arrested, or it is thickened, increased, or variously modified.
The symptoms usually are, the sheep is not so lively as usual; he eats little or no food; he coughs and sneezes; a watery discharge flows from one or both nostrils, and also from the eyes, which are red and swelled.
In the more severe form, there is a chill, warm skin, quick pulse, frequent and somewhat difficult breathing, sore throat, pain in the throat when pinched, frequent cough, rough coat, bound bowels, red eyes, and red and dry nose; tears flow freely, and little or no food is eaten—all symptoms indicating a catarrhal fever. As the animal improves, the discharge from the nose becomes white or yellowish, and more profuse.
Treatment.—When the disease commences with a chill, or any considerable degree of fever is present, give fifteen drops of the A.A., and repeat it several times, at intervals of one or two hours. Then alternate the E.E., with the A.A., at intervals of two or three hours, until the disease is broken up.