234 



SWINE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES, 



SWIKE, Trichinae. — To prevent the 

 Trichinae from getting into our hogs, it is 

 necessary to remember that the most 

 likely sources of the parasite are the ani- 

 mal offal and garbage which they eat 

 when allowed to run at large, and the rats 

 they are apt to devour when they can get 

 at them; in illustration of which fact it 

 may be mentioned that the pigs in Ire- 

 land, which are allowed much more lib- 

 erty of wandering, and are less regularly 

 fed than their congeners in England and 

 Prussia, are more apt than these others 

 to present the Trichinae upon microscopic 

 investigation. It is therefore advisable to 

 keep pigs intended for human consump- 

 tion in clean sties, containing only one 

 or two each, and impervious to rats. The 

 animals should be plentifully fed with 

 sound grain, buttermilk, etc., well water- 

 ed, and allowed some salt occasionally; 

 in other words, placed in good hygienic 

 conditions, and excluded from diseased 

 food. It may perhaps seem necessary to 

 dwell upon the value and necessity 

 of measures which commend themselves 

 at once as affording not only the best 

 safeguard against the special disease un- 

 der notice, but as going far toward the 

 prevention of other diseases to which the 

 hog is subject. Yet in view of the neg- 

 lect and even positive abuse with which 

 pigs are treated throughout the land, it is 

 well that breeders should understand the 

 fearful consequences liable to result from 

 carelessness, which, in matters of such 

 vital importance, is closely allied to crim- 

 inality. 



SWINE, Cholera. — Give one pint of 

 turpentine each week to fifteen hogs, or 

 in the same proportion to a lesser num- 

 ber, mixing it with slops. 



SWINE, Choking.— Choking is often 

 produced by feeding on roots, particularly 

 round and uncut roots, like the potato. 

 The animal slavers at the mouth, tries to 

 raise the obstruction from the throat, 

 often groans, and appears to be in great 

 pain. Then the belly begins to swell, 

 from the amount of gases in the paunch. 



The obstruction, if not too large, can 

 sometimes be thrust forward by intro- 

 ducing a flexible rod, or tube, into the 

 throat. This method, if adopted, should 

 be attended with great care and patience, 

 or the tender parts will be injured. If 

 the obstruction is low down, and a tube 



is to be inserted, a pint of olive or lin- 

 seed oil first turned down the throat will 

 so lubricate the parts as to aid the opera- 

 tion, and the power applied must be 

 steady. If the gullet is torn by the care- 

 lessness of the operator, or the roughness 

 of the instrument, a rupture generally 

 results in serious consequences. A hol- 

 low tube is best, and if the object is 

 passed on into the paunch, the tube 

 should remain a short time, to permit the 

 gas to escape. In case the animal is 

 very badly swelled, the dose of chloride 

 of lime, or ammonia, should be given, as 

 for the hoove, after the obstruction is re- 

 moved. 



Care should be taken, after the ob- 

 struction is removed, to allow no solid 

 food for some days. 



SWINE, Black Teeth in— Sickness in 

 hogs from indigestion, deranged biliary or 

 urinary secretion, is sometimes attributed 

 to an imaginary disease called the black 

 tooth. The treatment usually adopted is 

 to examine the teeth of the animal, and 

 if one is found blacker than the rest, it is 

 supposed to be the cause of the disease, 

 and is hammered off even with the jaw, 

 leaving the broken roots and lacerated 

 nerves of the tooth to increase the suffer- 

 ing of the animal. Notwithstanding all 

 this cruel treatment the hog sometimes 

 recovers, and would probably have done 

 so much sooner if he had been let alone. 

 The tooth in these cases is not diseased, 

 but only stained by food or otherwise. 

 The cruel treatment of breaking off the 

 tooth down to the nerve would certainly 

 cause disease, and might, in connection 

 with the true one, cause the death of the 

 animal. A proper treatment would be to 

 wash the hog thoroughly with soap and 

 water, and give it three or four ounces of 

 castor oil. 



SWINE, Rot, Tails of Young Pigs.— 

 The tails of young pigs frequently drop 

 or -rot off, which is attended with no 

 further disadvantage to the animal than 

 the loss of the member. The remedies 

 are, to give a little brimstone or sulphur 

 in the food of the dam; or rub oil or 

 grease daily on the affected parts. It 

 may be detected by a roughness or scab- 

 biness at the point where separation is 

 likely to occur. 



SWINE, Bleeding. — The most conve- 

 nient mode is from an artery just above 



