For what is presented concerning this disease, the author is indebted to
his friend, G. W. Bowler, V. S., of Cincinnati, Ohio, whose familiarity
with the various diseases of our domestic animals and the best modes of
treating them, entitles his opinions to great weight.
The term "cholera" is employed to designate a disease which has been
very fatal among swine in different parts of the United States; and for
the reason, that its symptoms, as well as the indications accompanying
its termination, are very nearly allied to what is manifested in the
disease of that name which visits man.
Epidemic cholera has, for several years past, committed fearful ravages
among the swine of, particularly, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Indeed,
many farmers who, until recently, have been accustomed to raise large
numbers of these animals, are, in a great measure, disinclined to invest
again in such stock, on account of the severe losses--in some instances
to the extent of the entire drove upon particular places.
Various remedies have, of course, been prescribed; but the most have
failed in nearly every case where the disease has secured a firm
foothold. Preventives are, therefore, the most that can at present be
expected; and in this direction something may be done. Although some
peculiar change in the atmosphere is, probably, an impelling cause of
cholera, its ravages may be somewhat stayed by removing other
predisposing associate causes.
Granting that the hog is a filthy animal and fond of rooting among
filth, it is by no means necessary to persist, for that reason, in
surrounding him with all the nastiness possible; for even a hog, when
penned up in a filthy place, in company with a large number of other
hogs--particularly when that place is improperly ventilated--is not as
healthy as when the animals are kept together in smaller numbers in a
clean and well ventilated barn or pen. Look, for a moment, at a drove of
hogs coming along the street, the animals all fat and ready for the
knife. They have been driven several miles, and are scarcely able to
crawl along, many of them having to be carried on drays, while others
have died on the road. At last they are driven into a pen, perhaps,
several inches deep with the manure and filth deposited there by
hundreds of predecessors; every hole in the ground has become a puddle;
and in such a place some one hundred or two hundred animals are piled
together, exhausted from the drive which they have had. They lie down in
the mud; and in a short time one can see the steam beginning to rise
from their bodies in volumes, increasing their already prostrate
condition by the consequent inhalation of the noxious gas thus thrown
off from the system; the blood becomes impregnated with poison; the
various functions of the body are thereby impaired; and disease will
inevitably be developed in one form or another. Should the disease,
known as the hog cholera, prevail in the neighborhood, the chances are
very greatly in favor of their being attacked by it, and consequently
perishing.
The _symptoms_ of cholera are as follows: The animal appears to be
instantaneously deprived of energy; loss of appetite; lying down by
himself; occasionally moving about slowly, as though experiencing some
slight uneasiness internally; the eyes have a very dull and sunken
appearance, which increases with the disease; the evacuations are almost
continuous, of a dark color, having a fetid odor, and containing a large
quantity of bile; the extremities are cold, and soreness is evinced when
the abdomen is pressed; the pulse is quickened, and sometimes hardly
perceptible, while the buccal membrane--that belonging to the
cheek--presents a slight purple hue; the tongue has a furred appearance.
The evacuations continue fluid until the animal expires, which may be in
twelve hours from the first attack, or the disease may run on for
several days.
In a very short time after death, the abdomen becomes of a dark purple
color, and upon examination, the stomach is found to contain but a
little fluid; the intestines are almost entirely empty, retaining a
slight quantity of the dark colored matter before mentioned; the mucous
membrane of the alimentary canal exhibits considerable inflammation,
which sometimes appears only in patches, while the other parts are
filled with dark venous blood--indicating a breaking up of the capillary
vessels in such places.
_Treatment._ As a preventive, the following will be found valuable:
Flour of sulphur, six pounds; animal charcoal, one pound; sulphate of
iron, six ounces; cinchona pulverized, one pound. Mix well together in a
large mortar; afterwards give a table-spoonful to each animal, mixed
with a few potato-peelings and corn meal, three times a day. Continue
this for one week, keeping the animal at the same time in a clean, dry
place, and not allowing too many together.