184 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 



ditions, or after such operations as dipping, shearing or washing, 

 are all common causes in adult sheep. Mechanical and chemical 

 irritants, local tissue changes, functional changes of the abdom- 

 inal glands as seen in tuberculosis, diseases of the liver, where an 

 over-secretion of bile is present, are also fertile causes of 

 diarrhoea. This disease is frequently complicated with dysen- 

 tery, often terminating in an attack of that affection. 



Symptoms. 



A thin, watery condition of the faeces, frequent, painless, 

 odorless, and free from slime or blood. At the commencement 

 of the trouble there will not be any constitutional disturbance, 

 but should the trouble persist, the lining of the bowels becomes 

 injected, causing colicky pains, increased pulse beats, which get 

 weaker and weaker. A rapid lowering of the temperature takes 

 place, in all cases an excessive thirst will be exhibited, the animal 

 loses flesh rapidly, the face has an anxioiis, haggard look, .the 

 tongue becomes furred, the extremities, as death approaches, get 

 cold, the visible mucous membranes turn a pale color instead of 

 the normal pink, these latter symptoms being those of extreme 

 and protracted cases of diarrhoea, which if existing would clearly 

 go to prove neglect on the part of the sheep-owner. 



Diarrhoea of Lambs. 



Diarrhoea of Lambs, also called the White Skit, from 

 the profuse white-colored evacuations. This is caused by the 

 ingested milk curdling in the lamb's stomach. It is a dangerous 

 disease, and is virtually due to constipation and not diarrhoea, 

 the watery discharge being the whey from the mass of curdled 

 milk in the fourth stomach. The fourth stomach of rumin- 

 ants, as has been stated in a prior chapter in this work, is the 

 digestive stomach, and normally possesses the property of curdling 

 milk to better facilitate its digestion. This disease being due to 



