Causes, damp, cold soils, inclement weather, cold rains, hard driving,
shearing or washing in cold weather, change to a cold climate, or from
a warm barn, hot barns, heavy fleeces, sudden plethora. Symptoms, in
congestive cases, in inflammatory. Treatment, preventive, hygienic,
antiphlogistic, laxative, febrifuge, derivative.
This disease is not infrequent in these animals, occurring enzootically
in low, wet pastures; or from cold storms of wind, sleet or drenching
rains, particularly after hard driving, or shearing; or from washing
during inclement weather. Dressing with mercurial ointment in cases of
_scab_ is a frequent cause of pneumonia and death in Lincolnshire and
various other English counties. Lastly M. Seron in Hurtrel d’Arboval’s
“_Dictionaire_” describes its prevalence in _Seine-Inférieure_ among low
conditioned sheep subjected abruptly to a very nutritious diet. The hot
buildings, heavy fleeces, and sudden plethora, appear to conduce to
dangerous pulmonary congestions. The _symptoms_ do not differ materially
from those seen in the ox except so far as they are modified by the fact
that the disease often terminates fatally before hepatization has been
established and the symptoms and post mortem appearances are those of
congestion and sanguineous engorgement of the lung rather than of
hepatization.
This engorged state of the lungs it is which has led Youatt and others
to describe them erroneously as “gangrenous” and shepherds to name the
disease “rot of the lights.” The condition is that of acute congestion
and analogous to that seen in congested lungs in the horse.
The _treatment_ ought to be chiefly preventive and will consist in the
avoidance of the causes above indicated.
When the disease has set in, fresh air, and general comfort, bleeding if
in the very earliest stages and in a strong patient, purging (3 ounces
sulphate of soda and ¼ lb. treacle in warm gruel) and a free supply of
nitre (about ½ an ounce daily to each) in the water or gruel supplied
are the leading indications. As a counterirritant aqua ammonia acts well
being sufficiently confined by the fleece.