128 PARASITES OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



cannot be safely or profitably sheared. Its disadvantages are that it 

 sometimes causes a setback in the sheep by sickening them, and that it 

 also occasionally sickens persons who work with it, especially if they are 

 not tobacco users. 



Dips containing carbolic acid are easily made and rapid in their action, 

 but soon evaporate from the body, leaving the sheep unprotected from 

 reinfection. Furthermore, in the strength at which it must be used as a 

 reliable acaricide, it causes the sheep to receive a greater setback than 

 they do with either the tobacco or lime and sulphur preparation. 



After Treatment. — The dipping is to be repeated upon the entire 

 flock in twelve to fourteen days. Where it is necessary to place the 

 sheep in the same pasture which they occupied before being dipped, 

 sulphur should always be an ingredient of the dip. This remains upon 

 the skin and wool and protects from reinfection during the period that 

 the acari may remain infective. In any case it is better to place the 

 flock after the second dipping in a pasture which they have not been 

 upon for at least five weeks previous to their treatment. 



Treatment of Psoroptic Scabies of Cattle. — As psoroptic scabies of 

 the ox may become generalized or remain localized upon parts of the 

 body easily reached by the tongue, mercurial preparations or those 

 containing other poisons which may be licked off should not be em- 

 ployed. Where one or two animals are affected upon limited areas of 

 the body, ointments of sulphur, such as flowers of sulphur one part, 

 lard four parts, may be used with good results. The remedy should 

 be preceded by the usual preparation of the skin. After three days it 

 can be washed ofT with soap and tepid water and the application re- 

 peated. 



As a convenient, safe, and effective remedy probably the lime and 

 sulphur dip will give better satisfaction than any other for the treat- 

 ment of this form of scab in the ox. It should be prepared with the 

 proportion between lime and sulphur somewhat reduced, as by the 

 following formula: 



Flowers of sulphur 24 lbs. 



Unslaked lime 12 lbs. 



Water 100 gals. 



Mix according to directions given under lime and sulphur formulae 

 for scab in sheep (page 125). 



Where a small number of animals are to be treated the dip may be 

 applied as a spray or with a brush, working it at the same time well 

 into the scabs. In larger herds this method is not practical, and the 

 animals must be treated by dipping. Even though few in the herd 

 give evidence of the disease, it is safer to dip all, as it is probable that a 

 number of the apparently healthy have become infected. 



