Hog Cholera. 



11 



ears and tails droop. They will eat sparingly acting as though 

 they eat because the rest eat and not because they are hungry. They 

 are always the first to lie down after eating and usually go off by 

 themselves, hide in the litter and lie quiet. 



In from three to five days after the first symptoms show, the an- 

 imal may entirely refuse food, or may come with the rest when call- 

 ed, but on close observation the sick hog will show signs of weav- 

 ing or staggering behind. Sometimes they are unable to rise at 

 all. The animal may either have diarrhoea or be constipated. As 

 time goes on, the hog will become very thin, ears lop down, eyelids 

 becoming swollen and often having a sticky gluey discharge around 

 the edges. The skin may become rough, wrinkly and dry. Some- 

 times, scabs and sores come on the ears and back. In white hogs, the 

 belly, ears, throat and inner side of the legs often appear red or 

 purple colored, while in black hogs, or if the skin is black in the 

 above described regions it will be impossible to see the purple color. 



Two vaccinated sows that had free access to outside of the 

 above open pen and did not contract disease. 



In the beginning of an outbreak it is impossible Tor one to tell 

 positively if the sickness is due to hog cholera. The only definite 

 way for the farmer to tell is to kill the animal or wait until just 

 after natural death, then open the bog by cutting away the ribs and 

 upper side of the abdominal wall with a sharp axe. This will ex- 

 pose the heart, lungs, liver, stomach, intestines, kidneys, etc. 



It must be remembered that typical hog cholera signs are not 

 seen in every sick hog that lias been killed or has died. The farm- 

 er must not come to the conclusion on the first hog opened that the 

 trouble is not hog cholera, because the disease shows itself in so 

 many different ways that it may require the examination of some- 



