3. GOUT. 



Fowls O'l' Ihf heavy breeds, when kept in a high coii- 

 (litiou and allowed but little exercise, may develop a 

 disease that is practically identical with gout in man. 

 It usually develops rather slowly, beginning as a some- 

 what iudclinite lameness that might hr mistaken for 

 rheumatism. But shortly the joints of the feet and 

 legs, and sometimes of the wings as well, swell, be- 

 come painful to pre.ssure, the bird becomes disinclined 

 to move; later, little tumors, that are rather hard, ap- 

 pear about the affected joints and still later the skin 

 covering these enlargements becomes dry, brittle and 

 breaks, exposing a yellow or grayish crumbling, chalky 

 mass whiclj is composed principally of uric acid and its 

 salts. Sometimes, tlie toes dry uj), lose their life and 

 fall of. The general spirits of the fowl are, of course, 

 iepressed, because it is difficult for it to get around. 

 It becomes feverisli, loses its appetite, wastes away and 

 toward the end dcvelo])s a diarrhoea that hastens 

 deatli. 



Treatment of gout consists in removing the enlarge 

 inents by scraping them off with a blunt instrument or 

 cutting them away m ith a knife, and, internally, bicar- 

 bonate O'f sode should be administered. This can be 

 sn|i])lied by adding it to the drinking walcr in qnaiiti 

 ties of about a ter.sjwonful to the pint. 



