chapter.

NAVEL RUPTURE

(Navel or Umbilical)

CAUSE: Injuries. Pigs crowding through narrow doorways or openings in
fences, small pigs sleeping with large pigs, and allowed to pile up, or
being thrown about feed troughs when feeding. Weakness and constipation
also predisposes them to Navel or Umbilical Rupture.

SYMPTOMS: A soft, puffy swelling about the navel or umbilicus, varying
in size from a hazelnut to that of an ostrich egg. When a pig is placed
on its back the intestines will gravitate into the abdominal cavity,
providing the intestines have not adhered to the walls of the rupture.

TREATMENT: This is more difficult than the Scrotal or Inguinal Rupture
operation, as often times the intestines will adhere to the inner
surface of the rupture and, unless the operation is carefully performed,
there is great danger. Great care must be exercised in preparing the pig
by fasting it for twenty-four hours. After this is accomplished, prepare
an antiseptic solution, Carbolic Acid, five per cent, or Bichloride of
Mercury, one in one-thousandths; also have a needle and absorbent silk
or cat-gut ready. Place the pig on its back, with its head downward.
Now, wash the seat of operation with either antiseptic solution. Then
make an incision through the skin carefully; as stated before,
intestines sometimes adhere to the inner surface of the rupture. If such
is the case, wash the hands in the antiseptic solution and with the
fingers carefully break the adhesions or separate the intestines from
their adhesions. After this is accomplished, sew the inner lining of the
abdominal cavity with absorbent silk or cat-gut. Then sew the outer skin
with cotton or linen cord and your operation is complete. Feed the hog
sparingly for a few days following the operation on easily digested,
laxative foods.

NETTLE RASH

(Urticaria)

CAUSE: Irritations of the skin produced by sprinkling hogs with
irritating solutions and powders, or from irritating dips when treating
for lice, etc. Feeding highly nitrogenous food predisposes hogs to this
disease; also filth, poorly drained sheds and pens; is especially common
in young pigs. Nettle Rash is not contagious, but what produces it in
one hog may produce it in several at the same time.

SYMPTOMS: Red, swollen blotches appear on the skin very suddenly,
especially about the ears and the inside of the thighs, perhaps due to
the skin being thin and deprived of hair. The hog rubs it on acc