The condition occurs also in hog cholera, swine plague, rouget, etc.
The chief symptoms are: Inappetence, vomiting, uneasiness, colic, constipation or diarrhœa, fever, stiffness, tense and tender abdomen, arched back, frequent grunting, limpness of the tail. Sudden vomiting may bring about a rapid recovery.
Treatment calls for a complete change of food, which may include freshly cooked roots, linseed or meal, butter milk, boiled milk, etc.
As an emetic 30 grains of ipecacuanha may be given. Constipation can be relieved by a dose of calomel or jalap. If diarrhœa is persistent small doses of grey powder should be given, and to combat the irritation of the gastric mucous membrane bismuth subnitrate is also useful.
The piggery should be cleansed and disinfected, and the litter frequently changed.
ULCERATIVE GASTRITIS.
Ulcerative gastritis (ulcer of the abomasum) is recognised after death, but hitherto it has been impossible to so clearly identify the symptoms as to permit of diagnosis during the animal’s life. It has been found after death in adults and in calves (Ostertag).
Causation and Pathogeny. The cause of gastric ulceration is decidedly obscure, though we know that certain forms occur during infectious diseases like cattle plague, foot-and-mouth disease, gangrenous coryza, and as a consequence of certain direct local infections; other forms result from the administration of drugs; and finally some are of secretory origin.
In human medicine at the present day there is a tendency to refer the development of round ulcer and ulcerative gastritis to the secretion of an excess of hydrochloric acid. Probably the same cause may be at work in domestic animals, but the proof has not yet been given.
With regard to the pathogeny, the theories of embolism or of thrombosis of capillary vessels find favour with few authorities at the present day. Yet these explanations are logical enough, for if we prevent physiological irrigation of any given part, it is possible to conceive that ulcer formation may follow from auto-digestion, i.e., from the simple action of the gastric juice on a surface which is no longer protected.