40 POUIvTRV DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



tion coming from filthy conditions. Foul drinking water, putrid 

 meat or decaying food of any sort may be predisposing causes. 

 Toxic enteritis or poisoning is caused by the birds eating such 

 things as paint skins, lye, unslaked lime, salt, ergot of rye, 

 arsenic and copper (in spraying mixtures) (cf. p. 44). Fur- 

 ther simple diarrhea may develop into the more acute form. 

 This latter is due to improper food, water or housing, and is 

 probably closely associated with bacterial enteritis. Various in- 

 testinal parasites may cause severe diarrhea. 



Diagnosis. — It is often very difficult to distinguish between 

 the different infections of the intestines in the living birds. 

 Woods (Reliable Poultry Journal) gives the following symp- 

 toms of enteritis : "The affected bird is inactive and dumpish. 

 The comb is at first pale and limp, and later becomes dark and 

 purplish. There is an abundant dark or greenish diarrhea. 

 Diarrhea may become bloody. The bird appears sleepy and 

 unwilling to walk around. The bird may be sick a week or 

 several weeks before death takes place. Some birds recover 

 without treatment. The appetite may be voracious, or the birds 

 may refuse to take food. The crop may. be full of food, or 

 may contain only a little slimy fluid. When the bird dies, the 

 comb is always dark. Often the bird may appear dumpish and 

 sleepy, and show a bad diarrhea; the owner, picking the bird 

 up to examine it, finds it has lost weight; holding it head down- 

 ward, a stringy, dirty liquid runs from the mouth, and death of 

 the bird soon follows. In such cases, the bird has been sick 

 several weeks before it was noticed. Examination of the body 

 after death shows the liver enlarged or shrunken, according to 

 the duration of the disease. If of long duration the liver is 

 shrunken. The spleen is usually enlarged. The intestines are 

 inflamed and are full of mucus." 



"The evacuations may show any or all of the color conditions 

 commonly observed in cases of severe diarrhea, watery, mixed 

 watery and solid, whitish, greenish, bluish green, brown, red, 

 bloody. Particular colors or conditions may represent the de- 

 gree to which different organs are affected, or indicate to an 

 experienced eye the progress of the disease, but to the layman 

 they have no special significance." (Robinson.) 



Treatment. — If possible the cause of the trouble should be 

 ascertained and removed. This is by all means the first and 



