292 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



fuse watery diarrhoea, the discharges in some cases being of a yel- 

 lowish or ochre color, resembling the typhoid stools of man; in 

 other cases the discharges are greenish or black in color, and at 

 times quite bloody. Contrary to common opinion, many hogs af- 

 fected with cholera suffer from constipation; arid at death the 

 large intestines may be found packed with hard lumps of almost 

 dry dung. Hogs suffering from cholera have an inclination to eat 

 dirt and gravel, and in some cases the stomach and intestines con- 

 tain a large quantity of this material. "Thumps" is a sympton 

 often seen in cases of cholera. The temperature runs high — 104 

 to 107 degrees. The younger animals of a herd often contract the 

 disease first and appear to be less resistant than adult hogs. This 

 may be due to the fact that the pigs are more difficult to keep in 

 an inclosure and consequently range more widely than the larger 

 hogs and are more liable to come in contact with the infection 

 from neighboring farms, and ingest a proportionately larger 

 amount of infection than the larger hogs. 



IMPORTANCE OF POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS. 



Since some of the symptoms which have been given are com- 

 mon to other ailments, it is important to not rely wholly on these 

 symptoms for a diagnosis. I cannot impress too strongly the im- 

 portance of farmers and veterinarians making a post-mortem ex- 

 amination of the hogs that die; since an accurate diagnosis of 

 cholera can by this means be more readily made; and the sooner 

 it is made the better. 



Too many farmers are inclined to think that because they 

 have not had a medical training it would be useless for them to 

 make the examinations suggested. In this they are mistaken, for 

 some of the best descriptions of diseased conditions I have read 

 were written by farmers who described in plain English the ap- 

 pearance of the diseased organs as they saw them. They did not 

 know the meaning of the changes described, but it was easy for 

 me to make a diagnosis from their accurate descriptions. Every 

 farmer knows the common name and the natural appearance of 

 the internal organs of the hog, and they should make themselves 

 familiar with the changes that occur in cholera, since expert 

 veterinary aid may not be available at the time when most needed. 

 If uncertain as to the nature of the disease, they can refer their 

 descriptions to an expert for interpretation. If the diagnosis is 

 made on the first few pigs that become sick, much time will be 

 saved in combating the infection. 



