54 The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser. 



and those that are out of condition. Yet the finest ani- 

 mals, kept for show, will sometimes suffer. So it is in 

 cattle, the young, weak and ill-thriven are the most ex- 

 posed, but aU may suffer. For the same reason, poor, 

 damp and exposed locaHties suffer more than the rich, 

 dry and sheltered. 



Prevention. Destroy the dogs, or, if they must be kept, 

 deny them sheep's heads until cooked. Examine them at 

 frequent iatervals and expel aU tape-worms by vermifuges, 

 (oil of turpentine, male-fern, kousso, areca nut, etc.) 

 Keep the young sheep at all times in good, thriving con- 

 dition. Drain all wet pastures, shelter exposed ones. 



Treatment. In rare cases, spontaneous recovery may 

 follow rupture of the cyst in connection with a blow on 

 the head or a fall. Hogg passed a long knitting wire 

 through the nose into the brain, and Touatt advises a 

 small trocar for the same purpose. But the cyst is more 

 easily punctured and extracted through the upper part of 

 the skuU. In advanced cases, the internal pressure of 

 the cyst has sometimes caused absorption of the bones 

 and the formation of a soft spot on the upper part of the 

 skull. This should be laid open with a sharp lancet or 

 penknife, just enough to introduce a trocar and cannula 

 one-eighth inch in diameter, through which the hquid 

 may escape slowly. The animal may be turned on 

 its back to complete the evacuation, but held firmly so 

 that no struggling can take place. As the cyst is emptied, 

 a membrane will be found projecting through it, and 

 should be slowly drawn out. This is the parasitic cyst, 

 and from its inner surface wOl be found projecting one 

 hundred to two hundred little elevations like pin-heads, 

 each representiag the head of a tape-worm and being ca- 

 pable of development into the mature parasite if swal- 

 lowed by a dog. The wound should be covered with a 

 pitch plaster and a leather hood, and the patient placed 

 in a dark, quiet, secluded box, on soft, laxative diet for a 

 Week. 



