682 HOME AND HOUSEHOLD. 



SHEEP. 



Administering Medicine. The stomach into which medicines are to be admin- 

 istered is the fourth _or digesting stomach. The comparatively insensible walls of the 

 rumen, or paunch, are but slightly acted upon, except by doses of very improper mag- 

 nitude. Medicine, to reach the fourth stomach, should be given in a state as nearly 

 approaching fluidity as may be. Even then it may be given in such a manner as to 

 defeat the object in view. If the animal forcibly gulps fluids down, or if they are 

 given hastily and bodily, they will follow the caul at the base of the gullet with con- 

 siderable momentum, force asunder the pillars, and enter the rumen; if they are 

 drank more slowly, or administered gently, they will trickle down the throat, glide 

 over these pillars, and pass on through the maniplus to the true stomach. 



Foot Rot. Causes. General debility, exposure in wet pastures, contagion, foul 

 habit of the body. 



Treatment. Endeavor to ascertain the exciting cause, and, if possible, remove 

 it. If the disease has assumed a putrid type, the superfluous horn may be removed. 

 The parts are then to be washed with four ounces of pyroligneous acid, three ounces 

 of water. Mix. A piece of lint is afterward to be saturated with the above and 

 applied as a dressing, and changed as occasion may require. The local remedy will 

 avail but little unless we sustain the living powers, and thus improve the secretions. 

 The usual remedies are : One ounce of powdered golden seal, one-half ounce of pow- 

 dered sulphur, one ounce of powdered charcoal, one ounce of powdered sassafras, 

 two drachms of powdered assafoetida, two pounds of flaxseed. Mix, and give a table- 

 spoonful twice a day, in the food. Supposing a number of animals to be affected, it 

 would occupy too much time to treat them singly; hence, let them be made to walk 

 slowly, or linger for some time, in a wooden trough, the floor of which may be cov- 

 ered to the depth of one inch with the following : Two pints of linseed oil, four pints 

 of pyroligneous acid, one pint of kerosene. 



Common Catarrh. This affection prevails most extensively among sheep that 

 have been exposed to rains and unpleasant weather. The disease manifests itself in 

 the form of a defluxion from the nostrils of a muco-serous discharge, accompanied 

 by frequent sneezing and occasional cough. As soon as the disease is discovered, the 

 affected animals should be placed in comfortable quarters. Then prepare the follow- 

 ing drench : Two ounces of composition powder and one quart of boiling water. Pour 

 the boiling water on the powder. Let the mixture stand in a warm place for an hour. 

 Pour off the clear liquor, and add two ounces of sugar of milk. 



Dose. A wine-glassful once or twice daily. Malignant epizootic catarrh may be 

 treated in the same manner, with the addition of one ounce of chlorate of potash 

 per day, which can be dissolved in the above drench. 



Diarrhaa and Dysentery. Curable cases of the above character are brought 

 to a favorable termination by using the following drench : One ounce of finely pulver- 

 ized animal charcoal, one gill of scalded cow's milk, one drachm of hyposulphite of 

 soda. Mix. The above constitutes a dose. It may be repeated as often as the 

 emergency seems to require; but, should the subject be a young lamb, one-half of 

 the quantity will suffice. 



Constipation of the Bowels. Constipation is almost always the result of a 

 deranged condition of the digestive organs. A deranged condition of the liver, for 

 example, will result in costiveness, for which the following drench is recommended : 

 Two ounces of Glauber's salts, one teaspoonful of fluid extract of leptandra, one-half 



