This cutaneous affection owes its existence to the presence of a minute
insect, called _acarus scabiei_, or mange-fly, which burrows beneath the
cuticle, and occasions much irritation and annoyance in its progress
through the skin.
Its _symptoms_ are sufficiently well known, consisting of scabs,
blotches, and sometimes multitudes of minute pustules on different parts
of the body. If neglected, these symptoms become aggravated; the disease
spreads rapidly over the entire surface of the skin, and if allowed to
proceed on its course unchecked, will before long produce deep-seated
ulcers and malignant sores, until the whole carcass of the affected
animal becomes a mass of corruption.
The _cause_ is to be looked for in dirt, accompanied by hot-feeding.
Hogs, however well and properly kept, will occasionally become affected
with this disease from contagion. Few diseases are more easily
propagated by contact than mange. The introduction of a single affected
pig into an establishment may, in one night, cause the seizure of scores
of others. No foul-skinned pigs, therefore, should be introduced into
the piggery; indeed, it would be an excellent precaution to wash every
animal newly purchased with a strong solution of chloride of lime.
_Treatment._ If the mange is but of moderate violence, and not of very
long standing, the best mode is to wash the animal, from snout to tail,
leaving no portion of the body uncleansed, with soft soap and water.
Place him in a dry and clean sty, which is so situated as to command a
constant supply of fresh air, without, at the same time, an exposure to
cold or draught; furnish a bed of clean, fresh straw. Reduce his food,
both in quality and quantity; let boiled or steamed roots, with
butter-milk, or dairy-wash take the place of any food of a heating or
inflammatory character. Keep him without food for five or six hours, and
then give to a hog of average size two ounces of Epsom salts in a warm
bran mash--to be increased or diminished, of course, as the animal's
size may require. This should be previously mixed with a pint of warm
water, and added to about half a gallon of warm bran mash, and it will
act as a gentle purgative. Give in every meal afterward one
table-spoonful of flour of sulphur, and as much nitre as will cover a
dime, for from three days to a week, according to the state of the
disease. When the scabs begin to heal, the pustules to retreat, and the
fiery sores to fade, a cure may be anticipated.
When the above treatment has been practised for fourteen days, without
effecting a cure, prepare the following: train oil, one pint; oil of
tar, two drachms; spirits of turpentine, two drachms; naphtha, one
drachm; with as much flour of sulphur as will form the foregoing into a
thick paste. Rub the animal previously washed with this mixture; let no
portion of the hide escape. Keep the hog dry and warm after this
application, and allow it to remain on his skin for three days. On the
fourth day wash him again with soft soap, adding a small quantity of
soda to the water. Dry him well afterward, and let him remain as he is,
having again changed his bedding, for a day or so; continue the sulphur
and nitre as before. Almost all cases of mange, however obstinate, will,
sooner or later, yield to this treatment. After he is convalescent,
whitewash the sty, and fumigate it by placing a little chloride of lime
in a cup, or other vessel, and pouring a little vitriol upon it. In the
absence of vitriol, boiling water will answer nearly as well.