Text book of veterinary medicine, Volume 4 (of 5)

by James Law

The conclusion is inevitable, that as in the case of cattle, the sire may become the means of transmission, and that the same measures of prevention are demanded. The fact that the affection is less widely spread or injurious, than in cattle, is largely due to the usual presence of but one, two or three breeding mares on a farm, so that there is little opportunity for a rapid extension of the infection. Multiply and encrease our studs of breeding horses, as cows have been in our dairying districts, and abortion, once introduced, would prove equally infective, spreading and injurious.

Therapeutics are useless in contagious abortion as the disease usually runs its course before any danger is suspected. If premonitory symptoms are observed, the abortion may sometimes be warded off for a time by secluding the animal in a quiet place and seeking to obviate labor pains by opiates and ounce doses of viburnum prunifolium.

Prevention. This is to be sought along two principal lines: 1st. The protection of a sound herd against the infection: and 2nd. The extinction of infection in a herd already diseased.

Protection of a sound herd. This requires the greatest possible care, because the infected animal usually presents the general appearance of perfect health, and there is no ready means of testing the presence or absence of the abortion bacillus. In purchasing a cow or mare in a public market the new owner may find her affected with this bacillus, and a serious danger to his whole herd. To protect the latter he must learn that the herd from which she came has had no abortions for several years before, and that the offspring for the different years are present in numbers corresponding to the dams. In the absence of this a certificate, and guarantee against infection of other animals by the one purchased, may well be demanded of the seller. A certificate from the veterinarian attending the herd furnishing the animal, may also be sought as evidence of the absence of abortion from the locality. Imported animals should be safeguarded in the same way but with even greater care, lest the microbian sources of new types of abortion, should be brought into the country. A guarantee of this kind might well be demanded by the Federal Government in the case of all breeding animals imported.

In case of failure to secure the most perfect guarantee with the purchased animal it would be worth the purchaser’s while to seclude it from his valuable herd, and not to breed it with the other animals of his herd until it has been proved to be entirely free from infection. If bought for a sire it should be subjected to a course of disinfection of the sheath and penis: if for a dam and unimpregnated, antiseptic irrigation of the vagina may be made daily for a week, and the external parts, hips and tail daily washed with antiseptics. If very important to have her bred, secure, if possible, a male that is not to be used on other animals. If this is impracticable, let the sheath and penis, and surrounding skin be thoroughly disinfected as soon as the service has been had.

If the newly acquired female is pregnant, keep her by herself until parturition and, even if this takes place at full term, irrigate the womb daily for a week with a disinfectant, delay having her served for a month, and if she must go to the sire of the herd, subject him to thorough disinfection after service. It may be that she still carries the germ but has become tolerant of it.

Extinction of Contagious Abortion in a Herd. 1. Two separate stables, or compartments, not having a common gutter should be provided, one for the sound animals, and one for those that are known to be affected, or that are open to suspicion.

2. The cow or mare that shows symptoms of abortion, or that has aborted, should at once be removed to the quarantine stable, and her stall, including the gutter and drain leading from it thoroughly disinfected. The whole stable should be whitewashed.

3. The aborted fœtus with its membranes, should be at once removed and burned, or boiled, or deeply buried after it has been thickly sprinkled with chloride of lime or other active disinfectant.

4. The manure from the infected stable should be taken into an enclosure into which no animals have access, and freely watered with a solution of sulphate of copper (6:100).