Symptoms and treatment of foot rot in sheep

Sheep footrot is a disease caused by the anaerobic gram-negative bacterium Bacteroides nodosus, which belongs to the Cardiobacteriaceae family. It is characterized by the defeat of the interhoof gap, as well as the corolla, accompanied by the decay of the tissue of the hoof horn and its decay. This disease is contagious and has serious consequences up to death. Its symptoms and treatments will be discussed below.

Sheep foot rot

History of the disease

Foot rot has been known for over 300 years. Researchers from Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and France created the first scientific works on this disease at the end of the 18th century. At that time, foot rot was already isolated as an independent disease, but until the causes of its occurrence were known, data on the pathogen were not collected. Russian practicing veterinarians and scientists assumed that this disease was somehow connected with necrobacteriosis.

This situation continued until 1938, when the Australian researcher Beveridge clarified. He managed to differentiate the causative agent of the disease and study it. Since then, there has been active work on the development of a vaccine against anaerobic bacillus. Now this disease has been studied enough, methods of its treatment have been developed.

Causative agent

Bacteroides nodosus (Dichelobacter nodosus) is a curved anaerobic bacillus with characteristic thickenings at both ends. That is, outwardly it resembles a dumbbell. The causative agent cannot form either spores or capsules. When examining an infected biomaterial with a multiple increase, other gram-negative rods are found next to the bacterium, which are usually located perpendicular to it.

The causative agent is characterized by medium resistance to environmental factors and chemical and thermal effects. For example, in the grass, it remains viable for 2 weeks. Under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, it dies after a few hours; when boiled, it is destroyed immediately. Not resistant to formalin, phenol, sodium hydroxide and bleach. The causative agent of foot rot dies after treatment with these solutions and agents for 15 minutes.

Bacteroides nodosus

Bacteroides nodosus

Ways of infection

Infection of sheep with foot rot occurs mainly during grazing. In grass, the bacterium can exist for about 2 weeks. The pathogen persists in the tissues of the hooves of recovered individuals for more than a year. Thanks to this, healthy sheep can become infected from carriers of the microbe right in the paddock.

Predisposing factors contributing to the spread of the disease:

  • dampness;
  • dirt in the paddock, unsanitary conditions;
  • crowded keeping of sheep;
  • lack of a hard surface in the walking yard;
  • rare change of bedding;
  • hoof microtrauma;
  • decreased immunity in animals.

Attention! Outbreaks of the disease occur more often during periods of heavy rainfall – in autumn or spring.

Symptoms and course of the disease

The incubation period of the disease lasts no more than 6 days. Further, you can notice that the sheep moves slowly, lags behind the rest of the animals in the herd, keeps the limb in a raised state, limps. At the initial stage, when examining the leg, it is observed:

  • reddening of tissues in the area of ​​​​introduction of bacteria;
  • swelling;
  • hair loss;
  • gray mucus is found in the interhoof gap;
  • exfoliation of the horny shoe from the skin of the hoof;
  • a fetid odor spreads from the affected limb;
  • excretion of pus.

Symptom of the disease

Symptom of the disease

When hoof rot occurs in a mild form, then as a result of suppuration, the side walls of the hooves located on the inside of the limb exfoliate. If the disease proceeds in the form of moderate severity, then the stratum corneum of the hoof exfoliates in the heel region and on the sole. A severe form of the disease is characterized by a complete detachment of the shoe from the skin, both from the side of the sole and from the outside of the hoof.

Ignoring the alarming symptoms of the disease can lead to unpleasant consequences.:

  • necrosis of limb tissues, ligaments and tendons;
  • the appearance of fistulas and ulcerations on the udder, in the oral cavity and other parts of the body;
  • endometriosis;
  • the appearance of abscesses;
  • exhaustion;
  • sepsis and death.

Therapies

Having found signs of infection with hoof rot, sick individuals are immediately isolated, and disinfection is carried out in the room, manure is disinfected without fail. The rest of the sheep that have not yet shown symptoms of the disease should be treated as a preventive measure. For this apply:

  • formalin solution at a concentration of 10%;
  • paraform solution in water (5%).

To achieve the maximum effect in the treatment of sick sheep, their hooves are cleaned: the exfoliated horny tissue is cut off, the inlets are opened and the affected areas are removed with a scalpel. After this procedure, formalin baths are used. To do this, sheep are brought into a container filled with a 10% formalin solution for several minutes. This procedure must be repeated every 2 days until the symptoms of the disease disappear completely.

Attention! To prevent the development of complications, it is advisable to use broad-spectrum antibiotics for foot rot.

Antibacterial agents

Antibiotics should be used if a secondary infection has entered the affected hooves. It is dangerous for the life of a sheep, as it is fraught with the development of endometriosis, mastitis, abscesses and blood poisoning. Antibiotics are used for foot rot:

Nitox 200

Nitox 200

  1. Bicillin -5. The powder is diluted in saline and administered to the animal intramuscularly once. Dosage – 50000 IU / kg of weight.
  2. Biomycin. It is applied subcutaneously in the form of a solution prepared on the basis of glycerin (3%).
  3. Nitox 200 (oxytetracycline). The drug is administered intramuscularly. One injection is enough to destroy a bacterial infection.

Prevention

Since foot rot is easier to deal with in the early stages of the disease, it is a good idea to regularly check the condition of sheep’s hooves. This is done every 2 weeks. The following preventive measures will help prevent the spread of the disease on the farm:

  1. Regular cleaning of manure and change of bedding to clean and dry.
  2. Keeping sheep in a well-ventilated area.
  3. Strengthening the immunity of animals. It is important to provide sheep with good nutrition.
  4. Quarantine new animals for 30 days.
  5. Every 2 months it is necessary to carry out a preventive cleaning of the hooves.
  6. Once every six months, all sheep are driven through baths with a solution of formalin (10%) or copper sulphate (25%).

Reference. If hoof rot is found on the farm, it is declared unfavorable. Restrictions are lifted 30 days after the last infected animal has recovered.

Foot rot is easily treatable if the disease is detected at an early stage. This is why it is important to regularly inspect and clean sheep’s limbs. A neglected disease can lead to serious complications – endometriosis, sepsis and kill the animal.

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Anna Evans

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