70 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE OF THE 

 MOUTH, PIP, CATARRHAL STOMATITIS. 



A catarrhal inflammation of the mouth is seen in 

 fowls and may be either an independent disease or a 

 complication of certain inflammatory diseases of the 

 respiratory organs. The term "pip" is commonly 

 used with birds much as "hollow horn" and "mur- 

 rain " are applied to cattle diseases; that is, it is made 

 to cover a large part of the diseases to which birds are 

 subject, and it is sometimes believed to exist b^-- over- 

 anxious poultry keepers when a careful examination 

 shows that the birds are perfectly healthy. 



Symptoms. — Inflammation of the mouth is a rare 

 rather than a common disease. The symptoms con- 

 sist of the drying of the membrane of the mouth and 

 particularly of that covering the tongue. A hard 

 opaque deposit accumulates along the edges and upon 

 the under surface of the tongue, and may firmly attach 

 this organ to the adjacent parts. The dried epidermis 

 may partly separate from the sensitive tissues, and 

 form a hard shell which remains attached to the free 

 extremity of the tongue, causing more or less painful 

 constriction and interfering with the movements of 

 this important organ. 



Cause. — This disease arises from any form of local 

 irritation or injury which is sufficiently serious or long 

 continued to set up inflammatory action. In the ma- 

 jority of cases it is probalily caused by micro -organisms 

 of feeble virulence which are able to make some head- 

 way when the digestive organs are deranged and the 

 circulation of the parts somewhat disturbed. In most 

 other cases, there is nothing more than a drying or 

 desiccation of the mucous membrane caused by breath- 



