184 DISEASES OF THE HOG. 



Symptoms: Paralysis may come on suddenly 

 or gradually. Usually the first thing noticeable 

 in the pig will be some stiffness in rising and mov- 

 ing about, with the back somewhat arched, knuck- 

 ling forward on one or both of the hind legs at the 

 ankles; by degrees this grows worse. If the pig 

 can rise it may be unable to stand, as the hind legs 

 will double under it In some cases the animal 

 seems to be more or less in pain and if made to 

 move will drag its hind legs. If the animal is not 

 properly treated it gets still weaker until it cannot 

 move and usually dies in from one to two weeks. At 

 first the appetite is not impaired nor the heart's 

 action increased, but as the disease advances the 

 pig will eat but little and the pulse becomes faster 

 and weaker. The only disease which might be 

 mistaken for paralysis of the hind parts is rheuma- 

 tism. There is no doubt but that severe rheuma- 

 tism will cause the animal to lose more or less con- 

 trol of its hind legs. In rheumatism the animal 

 will evince more pain on being handled and if ex- 

 cited may even walk for a short distance. There 

 may be a combination of rheumatism and paralysis 

 in cases where the rheumatism affects the sheath 

 of the nerve, but as the treatment of this form of 

 rheumatism would be the same or nearly so as in 

 paralysis there would be no harm done in using it 



Treatment: In the early stages of the disease 

 give the pig one ounce of castor oil and one ^r two 

 drops of croton oil in it; as soon as the physic oper- 

 ates give eight or ten grains of iodide of potassium 

 three times a day in the drinking water; if the ani- 



