wo DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



Diarrhoea is particularly dangerous to sucklings, which 

 perish in great numbers. The disease appears without 

 warning, the lamb becomes languid and sad, keeps away 

 from the other lambs, stands with bent back or lies down 

 frequently. The excrement, which is repeatedly discharged, 

 is thin, whitish or greenish, afterward watery and mixed 

 with mucus, and finally bloody. The animal ceases to 

 suck and eat, but is very thirsty. It bleats frequently, 

 evinces signs of pain if pressure is applied to its belly, and 

 makes efforts to discharge excrement. The lamb rapidly 

 loses flesh, its belly sinks in, and death ensues between the 

 second and fifth days, and sometimes even on the first day. 

 If the body is opened, the runnet-bag especially, and a 

 large portion of the intestines, are found to be inflamed. 

 The runnet-bag and the intestines, particularly the inflamed 

 parts, contain a substance looking like cheese or curdled 

 milk. The best sheep are most liable to the disease, but if 

 it appear as a plague, all lambs without distinction suSer 

 from it. 



The causes are colds of all kinds, especially from the in- 

 fluence of rain or moisture and difierent kinds of food. 

 The stronger and more copious the milk of the ewe is, the 

 easier the lamb is attacked by dysentery, and this mostly 

 takes place a few days after birth. The disease is particu- 

 larly dangerous in hot stables in winter, when the food is 

 plentiful and the drink cold. The cure is not easy, and 

 the majority of those attacked fall a prey to the disease. 

 It is therefore of special importance to attempt its preven- 

 tion as much as possible by avoiding all injurious in- 

 fluences, by giving dry food and drinks mixed with flour, 

 and by keeping the sheep in warm places. If the disease 

 makes its appearance in a fold, it is best in all cases to 

 change the food, even if it is apparently proper. The fol- 

 lowing remedies are serviceable : Opium, ten to twenty 



