214 DISEASES OF SWINE 



In central Illinois a few year ago the proprietors of a certain 

 slaughtering establishment maintained a considerable herd of 

 hogs, which were fed largely upon the offal from the slaughter- 

 house. At this time the firm was slaughtering only cattle and 

 sheep, the pork products being purchased from one of the large 

 packing houses at Chicago. 



About the first of June the firm began slaughtering swine as 

 well as beef and mutton, and, as before, the offal was fed to the 

 hogs. There was no noticeable change for several weeks, until a 

 shipment of hogs was purchased from an adjoining county. One 

 of these animals died in the pens while awaiting slaughter, and the 

 carcass was thrown over into the hog lot to be consumed by the 

 herd. 



About ten days later three of the shoats were sick. They 

 seemed better, however, the next day, and from this time on there 

 was a gradual development of unthriftiness in the herd. They 

 developed a cough, were irregular in appetite, lost weight instead of 

 gaining, had alternating periods of constipation and diarrhea. 

 Finally all were slaughtered except one or two of the sickest of the 

 herd. As there was no inspection at this plant the meat passed 

 into the usual markets. I had opportunity to examine the carcass 

 of one of the animals which remained in the pens. The animal was 

 very poor in flesh and practically all the natural body fat had dis- 

 appeared. When the stomach was opened several ulcers were 

 found on its mucous lining. The lower part of the small bowel 

 was freely studded with ulcers, while the ileocecal valve was 

 simply one large ulcer. In the large intestine several ulcers, vary- 

 ing in size from a pea to as large as a quarter-dollar, were found. 

 The kidneys were shrunken and dotted with red-colored spots. 

 The spleen and liver were not markedly affected, and there was 

 but little change in the organs of the thoracic cavity. 



The case was unquestionably one of chronic cholera. These 

 animals were, without doubt, infected from the carcass of the dead 

 animal fed to them weeks before. By continuous life around a 

 slaughter-house they had developed a gradual resistance to disease 

 germs, and had been able to fight off the infection fairly well, the 

 result being a chronic cholera rather than the acute type. 



All animals require a certain amount of variety in the food 



