ABSCESSES 0N POINT OF SHEEP'S JAW.

Otago Witness, Issue 2929, 4 May 1910, Page 20

ABSCESSES 0N POINT OF SHEEP'S JAW.

J. W. writes:-There is a disease which lone-woolled sheep are subject to that I should Hko to know if any of your numerous readers could enlighten me about the cause or cure. It is this: Theii lower jaw gets hard and twisted out of shape; their teeth stick out in every direction, and their jaw is as ba,rd as a stone. It does not break or fester, but just gets gradually harder till it is double the size it ought to be. The sheep will thrive all right for a time till the jaw gets so bad Mie sheep cannot eat. then it will pine and die. The trouble starts when the sheep is about 18 months old. Wethers and nams seem most' affected, although a number of ewes take it, but not so many. In some seasons very few are affected; in other seasons there is a larger number. This season is bad. and last season was bad also. Feed has nothing to dio with the trouble. This query was discussed with Mr Kerrigan, the Government veterinary expert, who thinks the trouble referred to is the same as that which was partly investigated by Mr Gilruth, and is referred to in the Agricultural Department's report for 1803. The. following is a precis of Mr Gilruth's report:—ln certain districts in the south, amongst several flockis, are to be seen animals with hard swellings on the points o" the lower jaw. One large owner informs me that he has never seen a case among the stud flock, but amongst his other flock there are always a few. Cases have been noted for twenty years; roughly spealcing, the same number each year—namely, one to every thousand. All ages become affeoetd, but it is properly not until the tumefaction has attained some considerable size that it attracts attention. It rpparently does not interfere with the animal's rjowers of mastication to_ any extent. The incisors are generally irregular, probably pushed out of place as the gum expanded with the growing abscess underneath. Two sheep were slaughtered; the circumference of the swellings was hard and strong, with the exception of the under surface, which yielded to the touch, and felt like thin cartilage. Each swelling l contained about 2oz of cloudy liquid. The iraner wall of the abscess was surrounded with a thick, tough membrane.

Some experiments were carried out; by Messrs GHlruth and Snowball, and the conclusion arrived at was that some germ, probably not always the. same, gains entrance through the incisor gums at the time the temporary teeth are being shed, and, lodging in ihe alveoli, induces a. slow chronic suppuration, which tends downward®. Provided the pus is drawn from these abscesses and the cavity syringed out with an antiseptic solution, such as lysol. one in ffty, they should readily heal if not too far advanced. The oases are very similar in appearance to those of actinomycosis affecting the lower jaw of sheep in Canterbury, investigated bv Mr Charlton.