Purging is most common in spring, and is then occasioned by fresh grass, to which the flock are unaccustomed; lambs are subject to a severe and often fatal form of this complaint, caused by the irritation of grass eaten for the first time. In some instances it may be occasioned by cold or by a peculiar irritation of the mother’s milk.
Symptoms.—The disease is manifested by discharge of various colors, and sometimes very profuse. It is accompanied with loss of appetite and wasting of flesh.
Treatment.—If the discharge is merely the effort of nature to rid the system of some hurtful substance, it will require no interference. But if it is excessive or wasting, three or five drops of the F.F., given morning and night, will usually be sufficient to arrest the disease.
Flukes, or Rottenness
This term is applied to the condition caused by the presence of fluke worms in the liver or bile ducts, where they sometimes exist in large numbers, causing great swelling of the liver.
Cause.—The disease is chiefly developed in low districts, and after damp seasons. The worms are taken in with the food and developed in the liver.
Symptoms.—Depression, sadness, inertness, loss of appetite; watery, red, yellowish, purulent eyes; yellowish tint of all parts not covered with hair; fœtid smell of nose and mouth; hard skin; dull, erect hair; irregularity of excrement, which is white, watery and fœtid.
Treatment.—The principal remedies are A.A., at first, and then, after a day, alternate C.C., with the A.A., a dose once in three or four hours.
Constipation
This is rarely of grave consequence, and when it exists, is usually a symptom of some other disease. When present, a dose of twenty drops of the J.K., given morning and night, will soon set all right again. If there is suspicion of some inflammatory condition lurking in the system, the A.A., in like doses, will have the like effect.