This malady may be treated in the same manner as diarrhoea. Should
blood and slime be voided in large quantities, the excrement emit a
fetid odor, and the animal waste rapidly, then, in addition to the
mucilaginous drink, administer the following:--
Powdered charcoal, 1 tea-spoonful.
" golden seal, half a tea-spoonful.
To be given, in hardhack tea, as occasion may require.
A small quantity of charcoal, given three times a day, with boiled food,
will frequently cure the disease, alone.
Dysentery is sometimes mistaken for diarrhoea; but they may be
distinguished by the following characteristics:--
1st. Diarrhoea most frequently attacks weak animals; whereas dysentery
ofttimes attacks animals in good condition.
2d. Dysentery generally attacks sheep in the hot months; on the other
hand, diarrhoea terminates at the commencement of the hot season.
3d. In diarrhoea, there are scarcely any feverish symptoms, and no
straining before evacuation, as in dysentery.
4th. In diarrhoea, the excrement is loose, but in other respects
natural, without any blood or slime; whereas in dysentery the faeces
consist of hard lumps, blood, and slime.
5th. There is not that degree of fetor in the faeces, in diarrhoea,
which takes place in dysentery.
6th. In dysentery, the appetite is totally gone; in diarrhoea, it is
generally better than usual.
7th. Diarrhoea is not contagious; dysentery is supposed to be highly
so.
8th. In dysentery, the animal wastes rapidly; but by diarrhoea, only a
temporary stop is put to thriving, after which it makes rapid advances
to strength, vigor, and proportion.