[Illustration: FIG. 86.—Preparing the hog for vaccination by washing the part where the serum is injected with a disinfectant.]
[Illustration: FIG. 87.—Vaccinating a hog.]
The region into which the serum and cholera blood may be injected are the inside of the thigh, within the arm, flank and side of the neck (Fig. 86). Two hypodermic syringes, holding about twenty cubic centimetres and six cubic centimetres, and having short, heavy, seventeen or eighteen-gauge slip-on needles, should be used. The small syringe is used for injecting the virulent or cholera blood which is injected into a different part than the serum. The quantity of serum and virus injected varies with the size and condition of the animal. Young hogs should receive one-half cubic centimetre of serum for each pound of body weight, and cholera hogs should be given one-half more to twice the dose that is recommended for healthy animals. The dose of virus recommended varies from one to two cubic centimetres for each hog.
In vaccinating small pigs not more than five, and in large hogs not more than twenty, cubic centimetres should be injected at any one point. The body temperature of each animal should be taken. A body temperature of 103.5\260 F. in a mature hog and a body temperature of 104\260 F. in a young hog may indicate hog-cholera. Exercise, feeding and close confinement in a warm place may raise the body temperature above the normal.
Hogs that are to be vaccinated or treated should not be given feed for at least twelve hours before handling them. If possible they should be confined in a roomy, clean, well-bedded pen. If this is practised, they are cleaner and easier to handle and their body temperatures are less apt to vary. After the treatment or vaccination the hogs should be fed a light diet for a period of at least ten days, and the ration increased gradually in order to avoid causing acute indigestion. This is necessary because of the elevation in body temperature resulting from the inability of the animal to digest heavy feeds, kitchen slops and sour milk. If poor judgment is used in caring for the vaccinated hogs, and the person who vaccinates them uses careless methods, heavy losses from acute indigestion, blood poisoning, or hog-cholera may occur.
QUESTIONS
1. What is the specific cause of hog-cholera? Give and describe the different methods of spreading the disease.
2. What are the symptoms of hog-cholera?
3. Give the preventive and curative treatment of hog-cholera.
4. What is anti-hog-cholera serum? Give the different methods of vaccination and treatment.