570 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



thing he could have done. The worst would have been to whistle 

 for a sheep dog and feed it to the dog. That would have been only 

 a little surer than throwing the parasite on the ground, as the two 

 to ten sheep dogs around the home ranch of the average Montana 

 sheep outfits would be almost certain to eat the parasite. Dogs sniff 

 at such things out of curiosity, and eat them, perhaps, for the same 

 reason. The writer has never yet seen a dog refuse to eat a bladder 

 worm. In passing, it should be said that all attempts to cure gid by 

 the administration of medicine have proven failures. No cure of 

 the sort is known. 



ADMINISTRATION OP TAPEWORM MEDICINE TO DOGS. 



As regards the administration of tapeworm medicine to dogs, 

 many sheepmen think this is too much trouble, and many are puz- 

 zled by the names of strange medicines and unfamiliar terms of 

 dosage. There are, however, some sheepmen who do give their dogs 

 some tapeworm medicine. The best time to do this is after the out- 

 break of gid for the year is over and no more giddy sheep heads are 

 available. This will usually be early in April, and in most sea- 

 sons the dogs can be treated before being sent out on the sum- 

 mer range. This will eliminate the tapeworm before the advent of 

 the rainy season starts the period of infection by washing the eggs 

 onto the grass and into the drinking places. To safeguard against 

 cases of gid which occur later than March, it would be a good idea 

 to administer tapeworm medicine about four times a year, as new 

 tapeworms develop from bladder worms in one or two months. This 

 treatment could hardly be given while the dogs were on the range, 

 and would require the temporary use of other dogs in order not to 

 interfere with the herding. It is necessary that the dogs be tied up 

 or confined while the medicine is given, in order that the tape- 

 worms may be destroyed when passed. The easiest and best way to 

 destroy them is one which is used by a Montana sheepman. It con- 

 sists in covering the worms and feces with a sufficient amount of 

 hay or straw and burning them. Another way would be to bury the 

 worms and feces with sheep dip, quicklime, or something of the 

 sort. If the worms are put in some antiseptic solution, preferably 

 formaldehyde or corrosive sublimate, and forwarded to the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry, Washington, D. C., they will be identified and 

 the sender notified as to whether they are gid tapeworms. 



It is highly desirable that dogs should be treated for tapeworms. 

 Not all dog tapeworms will cause gid in sheep, but they often de- 

 velop injurious larval forms in man and the domestic animals, and 

 they are injurious to the dog. The fact that the dog belongs to 

 the herder may be only an additional reason for insisting on giving 

 it a dose of tapeworm medicine. The outbreak of gid in New York 

 State was apparently derived from some dogs imported from Scot- 

 land, and it is altogether likely that dogs belonging to wandering 

 sheep herders have brought gid from infected areas into many Mon- 

 tana flocks previously uninfected. 



The following drugs may be used to rid dogs of tapeworms: 

 Pelletierine tannate. Very efficient, safe, and readily retained by 



