648 Journal of Agriculture. [8 Nov., 1907.. 



Contagious Foot Eczema. 



The differential diagnosis of this affection from simple footrot can onl) 

 be made in the early stages, and depends upon observation of the starting, 

 place of the disease. In this disease the first tenderness, heat, and swelling 

 occurs round the coronet at the junction of the horn and skin. This is 

 followed by the formation of a ring of soft, spongy, crumbly horn near the 

 coronet, and the disease then spreads to between the claws and other parts 

 of the foot. From this out, mainly on account of the parts becoming 

 infected with dirt or septic matter from the ground, the progress of the 

 disease and the appearances and symptoms resemble ordinary footrot, 

 except that there is usually more swelling of the tissues above the claws, 

 and there is a tendency for the claws to slough off. The local treatment 

 for the affection should be the same as that advised for simple footrot, 

 but the stronger caustics are not usually required. 



Inflammation of the Inter-digital Duct. 



Situated in the skin between and just above the claws in front is the 

 opening of a duct, called the inter-digital or inter-ungulate duct, which 

 leads from a small gland situated between the pastern bones. The gland 

 secretes a semi-solid oily substance of a greenish opalescent hue, which is 

 conveyed by the duct and is discharged on to the delicate skin and horn 



Fig. 114. Foot of sheep. The opening of the inter-digital duct is marked at [a].- 

 (After Armatage.) 



between the claws, which are thereby lubricated and protected from wet 

 and dirt and friction. On soft, clayey land, and on gravelly land, the duct 

 opening is liable to become blocked with mud or grit, and two untoward 

 results may follow — the tender skin and horn, being unprotected, may 

 become dry, irritated, and inflamed, and the duct itself may become 

 inflamed by the irritation of the foreign body blocking it. In either or 

 in both of these events the inflammation soon involves the soft structures- 

 beneath the horn, and, again from inoculation with septic matter and dirt, 

 the sequence of all the progressive stages of footrot may be commenced. 

 When blocking or inflammation of the duct is observed in the earlv stages, 

 the cutting away of the blocked portion or the slitting of the duct and 

 removal of the foreign body will usually result in recoverv. Otherwise the- 

 treatment to be followed is that previously outlined. 



