THE MORE COMMON AILMENTS OF SHEEP 407 



is parasitic when it results from the presence of such para- 

 sites as stomach worms and tapeworms in the digestive 

 tract. In such instances the cure is found first or mainly 

 in the removal of the cause. The treatment for stomach 

 worms is discussed on page 394, and for tapeworms on 

 page 397. In the present instance, therefore, the discus- 

 sion is narrowed down to the methods that will best tend 

 to combat the evils resulting from the simple form of 

 diarrhea. As will be shown, the treatment for simple 

 diarrhea is much less complex than for parasitic diar- 

 rhea. The symptoms of simple diarrhea are frequent ex- 

 pulsion of the feces, and more or less watery in character. 

 They are free from blood and slime, and are not usually 

 of seriously offensive odor. The appetite is sharper in 

 most instances than in the absence of the trouble. The 

 symptoms are not to be confounded with those which in- 

 dicate the presence of dysentery. In the latter, to which 

 diarrhea unchecked may lead, fever is present, the debil- 

 ity is rapid and extreme and the bowels rumble. The 

 feces are thin but adhesive, are laden with mucus and are 

 passed with pain. Such attacks are usually more or less 

 fatal, and when the disease becomes thus serious it is best 

 dealt with by a competent veterinarian. The causes of 

 diarrhea may be various. The most common cause is the 

 partaking too freely of over-succulent food, as when sheep 

 are turned out to graze upon succulent young grasses in 

 the spring or into a field of succulent food such as rape. 

 Frozen rape or frozen clover are aggravating causes. The 

 trouble, however, may also arise from feeding indigestible 

 food, from certain changes of diet suddenly made and 

 from exposure when in an emaciated condition. 



Diarrhea may in nearly all instances be prevented by 

 careful and thoughtful management. When changes of 

 diet are made, they should be gradual rather than sudden. 

 When the animals are turned on to a very succulent diet, 

 the change being made from one that is dry, the aim 

 should be to have them partake of some dry food in the 



