TREATMENT: Preventive; avoid the above named causes, but when hogs become affected, move them to clean, well ventilated quarters, avoiding dust and gases, disinfect bedding and floors with some good disinfectant, as Crude Carbolic Acid, sprayed. Also give large doses of the hog regulator and tonic, as prescribed on the first page of this chapter. Feed vegetables, or any easily digested food, and hot wheat bran mashes. In case the disease is due to lung worms, confine the animals in a closed shed and permit them to inhale the steam from Turpentine and water for a few minutes, by placing water and Turpentine in a tin receptacle holding about two gallons, and inserting heated bricks or stones into the solution. CASTRATION This is generally understood by every stockraiser, yet there are some points many do not know. For instance, you should use in this operation an antiseptic solution, as Carbolic Acid or Bichloride of Mercury. Wash thoroughly with antiseptic yours hands and knife, also the seat of operation and make your incision as low as possible to permit the pus to drain out nicely. If this is not practiced, the pus will become absorbed into the blood, producing blood poison, which may produce death, or at the best will cause the hog to become stunted, whereas, if the operation is performed properly, the hog will thrive, regardless of the shock from the operation. I may add that it is much better to castrate pigs or hogs when their stomach and intestines are empty, and it is always good practice to feed laxative and easily digested foods sparingly after this operation. CHOKING CAUSE: Vegetables, such as potatoes, etc., roots, as carrots, turnips and sometimes pieces of bone or glass, lodge in the gullet. Paralysis of the muscular fibres of the gullet is a very common cause of choking in swine. SYMPTOMS: The hog is unable to swallow, producing frothing at the mouth and, if the obstruction cannot be dislodged, death occurs in a very short time. Sometimes the obstruction in the gullet may be felt from the outside with the hand. TREATMENT: The administration of small doses of Raw Linseed or Olive Oil, or Lard, will assist in dislodging the obstruction. Also careful manipulation of the gullet from the outside with the hand assists in either forcing it into the stomach or bringing it out through hog's mouth. If vomiting can be produced, it will dislodge the obstruction. If immediate results are not obtained from the above treatments, I would recommend butchering the hog for meat immediately. COLD IN THE HEAD (Nasal Catarrh) CAUSE: Exposure to cold; a very common condition in cold, wet weather when hogs are allowed to sleep in manure heaps, straw stacks, or pile up together, when they become overheated and later chill. Nasal Catarrh may also be due to inhaling dust or irritating gases.