GENERAL DISEASES. 1073 



What to do. — Treatment is of little use, the malady being usually fatal. 

 Put the sheep into a dark place alone, and put a piece of Solid Extract of 

 Belladonna, the size of a pea, on the tongue twice a day ; put oatmeal 

 water in the pen for him to drink. Warmth and quiet are essential. 

 Bleeding used to be considered a specific by many, l)ut it should not be 

 practiced. Move the bowels as soon as possible, and follow tiiis up with 

 belladonna. Give four ounces of castor oil as the laxative. When the 

 worst symptoms are overcome, give gruels and other soft nourishing food 

 unal recovery. 



XII. Paralysis or Palsy. 



Lock-jaw and epilepsy are often mistaken for palsy ; yet, it is the 

 direct opposite of them. Like the two first it is somewhat rare in 

 America. 



What to do. — The first thing to do is to make the lamb warm and com- 

 fortable. Give warm gruel, with a little ginger as a stimulant. If the 

 bowels are costive give four ounces of linseed oil. Give twenty grains of 

 powdered Nux Vomica in soft mashes three times a day ; continue this two 

 or three weeks. If the paralysis is severe, clip off the wool and apply 

 a blister of Spanish flies to the spine, from the points of the hips to the 

 shoulders. 



Xni. Kabies or Canine Madness. 



Sheep are particularly liable to be bitten by rabid dogs in their first 

 stages of madness. It is usually considered that flock-masters have a right 

 to destroy any dog worrying their sheep, but by a decision not long ago, 

 l)y the supreme court of Massachusetts, dogs are property; consequently, 

 the owner of a dog is liable for all the damage done by him, and anyone 

 that kills the dog is liable for his value. When a sheep develops rabies 

 he might as well be destroyed at once to save suffering. See rabies in 

 horses, page 452. 



Tympanitis in Sheep: — Give internally a tea.spoonful of turpentine 

 in a little water or pa.s.s a rubber tube down the throat, A.-i a last resort 

 puncture the stomach with a trochar as you would cattle. 



Inversion of the Womb in Sheep: — ^\Vash it with tepid water con- 

 taining a little laudinuni. Replace it carefully and take a few stitches 

 in the lifw of the vulva. Elevate the ewe behind. Usually the danger is 

 pa^ssed at the end of thirty-six hours. 



