ABERRATION OF THE APPETITE. 



65 



tities of long, coarse wool ; nutrition is then affected and digestive 

 troubles appear ; the animals lose flesh, their development is 

 delayed, they are periodically constipated, and some will succumb 

 with all the symptoms of gastro-enteritis. At the autopsy an 

 inflammation of the stomach is found, produced by woollen balls 

 about the size of a hazel-nut, and by numerous woollen locks, 

 which may become introduced into the pyloris and obstruct it. 



When the disease first appears it is found upon one subject 

 only — mostly, it is said, on a wether or a pregnant ewe. The 

 young animals seem to be looking for particles of food in their 

 fleece. May and other authors state that they prefer to nibble 

 wool that has been soiled by urine or excrements. At the outset 

 the first wool-eater will attack several sheep, but soon he pursues 

 one and the same subject only, and imitators will not be slow to 

 take part in the work. As a general rule, the first victim is com- 

 pletely shorn, when the company leaves him to look for another. 

 With the number of eaters, however, that of the sufferers increases 

 also. Sometimes in a short period the trouble spreads among a 

 large part of the flock, and occasions the loss of a considerable 

 quantity of wool. It may persist for months without particularly 

 altering the general condition of the animals ; ordinarily not the 

 least fever is observed, the appetite does not seem lessened, and 

 rumination is not at all disturbed. However, in some cases con- 

 stipation appears, also paleness of the mucous membrane, emacia- 

 tion, dryness of the wool, etc. Nevertheless, mallophagia does 

 not produce cachexia, marasmus, and death, like licking-disease 

 in the ox ; it leads neither to osteomalacia nor to osteoporosis. 



The animals, as a rule, practise this vicious habit only during 

 the day and in the intervals between meals ; but when the trouble 

 is of long standing, they can be seen in dark sheepfolds eating one 

 another^s wool almost without interruption, even during the night. 



The sheep will very seldom attack his own fleece ; this enables 

 us to distinguish "wool-disease'' from lumbar prurigo and certain 

 pruriginous eczemas. 



Prognosis. The affection referred to is much less serious than 

 licking- disease ; it may, however, produce death in lambs. All 

 the prognostic considerations — relative to change of locality, diet, 

 pasture, and the advantages which may be obtained in using 

 apomorphine — which have been formulated in regard to licking- 

 disease are also to be applied here. 



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