EPILEPSY 627 



ment, and the best method of handhng these cases is to sell the 

 animals for slaughter. 



During an acute attack of staggers the animal should be 

 placed in a darkened pen, and kept quiet for a few hours until the 

 attack has passed over. No medication is necessary, as a rule. 



EPILEPSY (FALLING SICKNESS) 



Definition. — Epilepsy is a chronic disease, in which the hog is 

 subject to recurring attacks of convulsive seizures, during which 

 the animal falls to the ground and all the muscles of the body are 

 stiff and rigid. During the intervals between the attack the ani- 

 mal may appear to be in good health. 



Causes. — The true cause of epilepsy is not thoroughly under- 

 stood, but it is probably due to some abnormal irritability of the 

 cells in the outer portion of the brain, or to some disease of the 

 brain or spinal cord. In-breeding is believed by many authorities 

 to be a cause for epilepsy, and there seems very reasonable grounds 

 for the belief that the disease is hereditary in nature. 



Intestinal worms and severe inflammation of the bowels or 

 stomach may cause convulsions in young pigs, but these attacks 

 are not a true epilepsy, and must be differentiated from the real 

 falling sickness. 



Symptoms. — Just before the attack comes on the animal ap- 

 pears restless. It goes about and roots up the ground in an uneasy 

 sort of manner. Finally, the convulsive movements make their 

 appearance, commencing, as a rule, in the muscles of the head 

 and extremities. The muscles of the head begin to jerk, the jaws 

 are ground together, and the hog becomes unsteady on its feet, 

 finally reels and falls over. The head is drawn back, foaming 

 froth escapes from the mouth, and the urine is passed involun- 

 tarily. Often the animal bites the tongue, and the saliva, as a 

 result, is blood stained. The different muscles of the body are 

 now seized by successive convulsive contractions, and, owing 

 to spasm of the muscles of the chest, breathing becomes very 

 difficult. 



The true epileptic seizure lasts for several minutes, and the pig 

 is left in an exhausted condition when the seizure is over. These 

 attacks have a tendency to recur at regular intervals, and, as a 



