684 DISEASES OF SWINE 



are likely to cause the condition. Proper feeding and a reasonable 

 amount of exercise will also do a great amount of good in cutting 

 down the number of cases of abortion. Handle pregnant sows with 

 due regard to their condition, and especially use care in catching 

 and restraining them for purpose of ringing or injection with 

 serum. Keep the pregnant sows away from those that are coming 

 in heat, and do not turn newly purchased hogs in with pregnant 

 sows, as they will nearly always do considerable fighting and 

 abortions are likely to occur. 



Once the symptoms of abortion have started to appear there 

 are two remedies that should be used freely, and in many cases 

 these remedies will control the condition. These two drugs are 

 viburnum (conunonly known as black haw) and tincture of opium. 

 It makes no difference whether the disease be of the infectious or 

 the non-infectious type, these remedies, if given early, will produce 

 excellent results. 



At the first signs of restlessness and pain the sow should be 

 removed from the balance of the herd and placed in a quiet, dark 

 pen, where she will be protected from excitement. Teaspoonful 

 doses of tincture of opium should be given every three or four hours 

 for several doses until the animal is entirely over her nervousness. 

 At the same time give fluidextract of viburmma in large amount. 

 The drug can be administered in tablespoonful doses every hour, 

 in a little milk, for several doses. It will quiet down the restless- 

 ness, check the contractions of the womb, and in a large percentage 

 of cases it will carry the animal over the danger period and allow 

 her to carry the pigs along to term without further mishap. 



In cases where abortion does really take place the sow should 

 receive proper attention for a week or ten days to prevent infec- 

 tion. She should be kept quiet, fed a fight diet, and it is also well 

 to add a teaspoonful of some tonic condition powder once or twice 

 a day to the food. As preventive of infection there is one drug 

 that is most effective. This is echinacea. A good fluidextract or 

 the specific medicine echinacea may be used, giving a teaspoonful 

 with the food three times a day. It is the most powerful remedy in 

 the entire list of drugs to prevent infections after abortion or after 

 a difficult labor. Echafolta, a more powerful preparation of 

 echinacea, is also a valuable preparation for the same purpose. 



