118 SHEEP DISEASES. 



caused by chills; eating irritating food; foreign 

 bodies or parasites in the intestinal tract. It is 

 also a sequela of constipation or diarrhea. 



Croupous enteritis. This occurs from feeding 

 too much chaffy food, such as "straw-stack and 

 scenery " in the spring, following a hard winter. 

 Dram doses of sodium bicarbonate several times 

 daily, with nourishing foods, seem to do as much 

 good as anything yet tried. 



Mycotic enteritis. This is the most common 

 type among sheep. It is due to the ingestion of 

 mouldy or fermenting foods. Thousands of sheep 

 are lost yearly from this disease alone. The trou- 

 ble is especially fatal among pregnant ewes, caus- 

 ing abortion, and later, death from metritis. Often 

 the most painstaking and careful examination is 

 necessary to arrive at a correct diagnosis. 



The symptoms are sudden and severe. There 

 is a complete loss of appetite; dullness; colicky 

 pains; constipation, followed by a copious 

 diarrhea, in which are long strings of slimy mucus. 

 Paralysis completes the clinical picture, and death 

 occurs in a stupor-like condition. The exact kind 

 of poison or toxic ingredient in the food largely 

 controls the symptoms, and sometimes they are 

 very violent in character. The history of the case, 

 and an autopsy on animals already dead, help one 

 to arrive at a conclusive diagnosis. 



The treatment in the main is unsatisfactory, for 

 the ailment has usually progressed too far for me- 

 dicinal aid to accomplish much. Stimulants, anti- 

 ferments, and intestinal antiseptics, together with 

 rectal injections, complete the treatment. Only in 



