PREVENTING COLT DISEASES.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 447, 13 March 1912, Page 7

PREVENTING COLT DISEASES.

Most of the serious losses of newborn colts may be prevented by proper care, states Dr. A. S. Alexander prof, of vet. science, Col. of Agri., Wis., U.S.A. Large numbers of foals die annually from naval and joint diseases, or derangement of the bowels.

The infection is due to filth germs in dirty stalls and stables. On infecting the naval stump the germs cause pus, then secondary abscesses form elswhere in the body, often in the joints of the extremities. Infection will not take place if the foals are born in a clean, sunny, wellventilated, disinfected and whitewashed box stall, bedded with clean, dry planing mill shavings. Care should be given to the naval, and it should be dealt with as follows : —lf it is necessary to tie the navel cord, a clean string that has been soaked in a 1 to 500 solution of corrosive sublimate should be used. At once the stump of the navel should be saturated with a solution of two drams of powdered corrosive sublnnate in one pint of boiling water, to be used cold, and the application should be used twice a day until the navel is perfectly healed. Carbolized lard or vaseline should be smeared around the navel to prevent the corrosive solution from blistering the skin. The foal's bowels should move freely soon after birth. To stimulate movement, rectal injections of lukewarm slippery elm bark tea, flaxseed tea, sweet oil or warm water may be given. If results do not promptly follow, two to four ounces of a mixture of equal parts of castor oil a nA sweet oil, shaken up in milk, may bo administered from a bottle.