Foot and mouth disease is an acute highly infectious disease, which mainly occurs in large horned animals, as well as goats, sheep and pigs. The causative agent of the disease is the smallest microbe - FMD virus, which is localized in milk, saliva, secretions, blood, on the exfoliated mucous membrane of the mouth and hair of a sick animal. Cases were recorded when foot and mouth disease in animals developed in the wild. There is also evidence of disease in cats, dogs, rats, rabbits and hedgehogs. It should be noted that foot and mouth disease is a disease that even a person can catch, but the process of getting and progressing the virus in the human body is unknown.
Signs of the disease
Foot and mouth disease in animals is accompanied by copious expiration of foamy, viscous saliva from the mouth. Specific vesicles appear on the mucous membrane of the oral cavity, as well as on the nipples and corollas of the hooves, which are extremely painful. In
cattle, there is a strong increase in temperature and the appearance of watery
vesicles on the gums, tongue and cheeks, which soon burst, and red ulcers appear in their place.
From the very first days, foot and mouth disease in animals provokes general weakness and lack of appetite. Sick cattle for a long time lies in one position, trying not to change their position. In cows there is a decrease or complete cessation of milk production, while breathing and heart rate are increased. The strength of the lesions and the degree of their spread in each animal may vary - some develop limited erosion, while others develop deep bleeding ulcers.
Treatment of foot and mouth disease in animals
In the fight against the disease, quarantine and general sanitary measures are applied, and mass vaccination of cattle is carried out in risk areas. When establishing foot-and-mouth disease, a sick animal is isolated, and a permanent person is appointed to care for him, who must have special clothing. Before entering the insulator set a pillow with a special solution for disinfecting shoes. In addition, the wash basin, towel, soap and Formalin solution should be in the quick access zone.
Treatment of foot and mouth disease in animals requires good care and plentiful nutrition. In winter, sick cattle are recommended to be fed with meadow hay, boiled potatoes, bran mashrooms, oilcake, root crops and silage, while ensuring dry
litter. The animal's oral cavity should be washed daily with a 2% solution of acetic or hydrochloric acid, potassium permanganate, or 0.5% with copper sulfate. The ulcers formed on the hooves must be treated with cleaned birch tar, solid oil or Vishnevsky ointment, and all livestock buildings must be disinfected.
Ill cattle can be removed from the quarantine zone no earlier than three months after its removal. It is forbidden to use offal and meat of dead sick animals outside the farm. It should be noted that foot and mouth disease in animals that have recovered may remain in the body for some time, so their contacts with young healthy cattle should be excluded so as not to provoke a new outbreak of the disease.