44 DISEASES OF THE FOOT. 



animals lose flesh, become anaemic, and, unless vigorously treated, soon 

 die. The ordinary duration of the disease is from five to eight months, 

 sometimes more. If, however, patients are isolated and well treated 

 they recover. 



Causation. The specific cause of foot rot still remains to be dis- 

 covered, although everything points to the conclusion that it consists 

 in an organism capable of cultivation in manure, litter, etc., for foot rot 

 is transmissible by cohabitation, by mediate contagion through infected 

 pasture, by direct contact and by inoculation. 



The chief favouring influences are bad drainage, filthy condition of 

 the folds, and herding in marshy localities. 



Diagnosis. The condition can scarcely be mistaken, for the sheep 

 suffers from no other disease resembling it, excepting, perhaps, foot-and- 

 mouth disease. 



Prognosis. The prognosis is grave, for the disease usually assumes 

 a chronic course, affects entire flocks, and the patients require individual 

 attention. 



Treatment. The primary essential to success in treatment consists 

 in se23arating and isolating the diseased animals in a scrupulously clean 

 place and providing a very dry bed. 



In the early stages the disease may be checked by astringent and 

 antiseptic foot baths. It is then sufficient to construct a foot-bath at the 

 entrance to the fold, containing either milk of lime, 4 per cent, sulphate 

 of iron, copper sulphate, creolin, etc. Through this the sheep are passed 

 two or three times a week. These precautions rarely suffice when the 

 feet are already extensively diseased ; and when the horn is separated to 

 any considerable extent, surgical treatment is indispensable. All loose 

 portions of horn should be removed and antisej^tic applications made to 

 the parts. 



When a large number of sheep are affected the treatment is very 

 prolonged, but it is absolutely indispensable, and the numerous dressings 

 required necessarily complicate the treatment. It would be valuable to 

 experiment with small leggings, which would retain the dressings in 

 position, and, at the same time, shelter the claws from the action of the 

 litter, while favouring the prolonged action of the antiseptic. 



When the lesions are not extensive, a daily dressing is sufficient. 



Among the materials most strongly recommended are antiseptic and 

 astringent ointments containing carbolic acid, iodoform, or camphor. 

 Vaseline with 5 per cent, of iodine is very serviceable, and much to be 

 preferred to applications like copper sulphate, iron sulphate, etc. Its 

 greatest drawback is its expense. 



