174 DISEASES OF SWINE 



Stomach and Bowel Symptoms. — Hog-cholera of the acute and 

 chronic types has a very marked effect upon the condition of the 

 stomach and bowels. In opening up the animal after death we 

 find that there are very marked signs of the disease to be found in 

 both the stomach and large and small bowels. It is not surprising, 

 then, that we should have very noticeable disturbances in the action 

 of these organs. 



This disturbance of the stomach is first noticed as a loss of the 

 appetite. This is, by the way, one of the first of the important 

 signs of cholera. The animal loses all desire for food, and cannot 

 be tempted by even the most favorite foods. Not only will the 

 sick hog refuse to come to the trough for food, but, even if food is 

 carried to him and placed in front of his nose, he refuses it. In a 

 few cases there is loss of appetite for the usual articles of food, 

 such as corn, slop, mashes, and bran, but the animal will eat 

 strange articles, such as dirt and old rotten wood. In other cases 

 the stomach trouble becomes very acute and severe. In these 

 cases the hog not only loses the appetite, but he may also get very 

 sick at the stomach and vomit quite freely and often. In those 

 animals where vomiting occurs it is very often found after death, 

 when the body is opened up, that the inner surface of the stomach 

 wall is the seat of a number of dark-colored sores or ulcers. In ad- 

 dition to these ulcers there is also usually found a very bright red 

 congestion or inflammation of the stomach. 



While appetite is lost early and quite completely in cholera, 

 thirst is usually increased. This is, in large part, due to the very 

 high fever from which the sick animal suffers throughout the 

 course of cholera. This burning fever rapidly uses up all the fluids 

 in the animal body, and it is necessary that the hog take in large 

 quantities of water to make up for that used up by the fever 

 process. As evidence of this great thirst, the sick hog usually seeks 

 a wallowing place, or makes its way to a running stream, if there 

 be one in the pasture. In the cooUng waters of the stream the 

 animal will burrow itself, and thus get the benefit of the cooling 

 influence of the water, both externally and internally. 



At the start of the sickness, with the rise in the fever and the 

 loss of appetite, there is usually a short period of one or two days 

 in which the condition of the bowels is that of constipation. The 



