318 The Care of Animals 



soap and warm, soft water and allowing it to remain 

 for half an hour before washing off, is usually efficient. 

 A solution made by boiling two ounces of stavesacre 

 seeds in one quart of water is also excellent. 



FLEAS 



These insects can be easily recognized by their ability 

 to jump. They are often found on cats and on long- 

 haired (sometimes on short-haired) dogs. Any of the 

 remedies for lice are efficient in destroying fleas. The 

 quarters occupied by the infested animal should be 

 disinfected. 



SCAB OF SHEEP AND CATTLE 



Scab in cattle, often called Texas- or range -itch, 

 is found mostly among animals that are raised on the 

 great plains of the West. The disease is caused by a 

 very small itch mite, which lives on the surface and 

 causes a scurfy and scabby condition of the skin, the 

 mites living and reproducing under these scabs. The 

 mites attacking cattle and sheep are different in kind, 

 but they cannot be distinguished by the naked eye. 

 The cattle mite does not attack other animals, except 

 possibly temporarily, and then it does not reproduce. 

 The same rule holds for the sheep mite. 



If some of the scabs and crusts at the edge of an 

 area affected with scab are removed, placed in a clean 

 dry glass bottle and allowed to remain for a few hours, 

 minute white specks, barely visible to the naked eye, 

 can be seen moving on the inside of the glass; these 



