1931 ANNUAL REPORT, 1930 21 



fight off the possible pneumonia. The danger of pneumonia is lessened and the 

 fox is able to breathe without difficulty and may be tided over until pelting time. 



Injections appear to be of great value in treating litters of pups that first 

 show lung-worm symptoms. If the pups are kept healthy until the cold weather 

 arrives, the danger of more lung-worm infection is lessened and by the next spring 

 the fox is old enough to have developed a certain amount of resistance to the 

 lung worm and as a rule will not show any further ill-effects. Fox pups that are 

 known by feces test to have lung worms may be given one or two injections as a 

 preventative. On ranches where losses from lung-worm complications run high 

 each year it might be wise to inject all the pups several times each year. 



Fox ranchers that have been given generous trial amounts of the bacterin 

 are enthusiastic in its praise. They say that it is surprising how a sick fox will 

 brighten up and its appetite increase after a few injections. Ranchers that have 

 had serious losses each year with pups dying from lung-worm pneumonia report 

 a marked lessening in mortalities. Affected foxes will soon breathe easily, 

 increase in weight, and usually grow good pelts by fall. A few experimental 

 cases brought to the farm responded to injections of the bacterin, and carefully 

 checked cases reported from nearby ranches prove the value of autogenous 

 bacterin injections. 



It is to be noted that autogenous bacterins give consistently better results 

 than stock preparations. That is to say if a rancher loses a fox from lung- worm 

 pneumonia and brings in the fresh carcass, a bacterin may then be prepared 

 that contains the special type of infection existing on his ranch. 



Bacterins prepared from the organisms most commonly found present in 

 the lungs and trachea of foxes dying from verminous bronchitis or so-called 

 lung-worm pneumonia are found to be of great merit in cleaning up the pus 

 condition in the lungs. Pneumonia that usually follows lung-worm infection 

 may be treated effectively or prevented by its injections. Autogenous bacterins 

 appear to be more efficacious than stock preparations. 



Snuffles 



This disease of rabbits appears to be more or less prevalent in many parts 

 of the Province. In the future, should rabbit-raising become seriously com- 

 mercialized, as is now the case in the United States, the disease would be of 

 economic importance. 



Snuffles has been studied over a lengthy period and our findings would 

 correspond, in the main, to those already voiced by previous scientific workers. 

 There are two forms of the disease, viz. the chronic or common type, which 

 resembles a cold in the head, and a septicemia which causes death in forty-eight 

 hours. We have found that chronic sore hocks, following an outbreak of snuffles, 

 may be due to a latent infection localizing as abscess formations on the hocks 

 and other locations. SnufHes is not hereditary as was formally believed by many 

 rabbit breeders. The supposition has arisen from the fact that some healthy 

 ral)bits may harbour the snuffle organism in their nasal passages. They may, 

 however, pass the disease to other rabbits or to their young after weaning, and 

 this accounts for the failure of certain animals to raise healthy young and also 

 for the repeated losses following an initial outbreak of the disease. As exposure 

 to dampness and cold reduces their vitality, rabbits are more susceptible to 

 snuffles in the late fall and early spring months. 



Medicinal treatment is of little value in established cases. It would be 

 advisable to immediately destroy the first cases rather than attempt treatment 



