THE STRANGLES. • 33 



niE STRANGLES 



Symptoms. — This is a disease incidental to young horses, 

 and few colts escape it. Occasionally it attacks old horses, 

 in which event it is more difficult to cure. The usual 

 period at which this disease shows itself is in the fourtli and 

 fifth years, although it is by no means uncommon to attack 

 horses two years earlier. Iligh-fed colts are more liable to 

 be seized with it at an earlier age than those which are kept 

 upon a loAver diet The first symptom is cough, differing 

 but little from that of a common cold, only that there is a 

 more abundant discharge from the nostrils, which is of a 

 yellowish colour, and unaccompanied by a disagreeable 

 odour : it is also in most cases mixed with matter. There is, 

 besides, a profuse discharge of slim}^ stringy fluid from the 

 mouth. The membrane which lines the nose is intensely red. 

 It will be found that considerable swelling has taken place 

 under the jaws and accompanied by fever, which is distin- 

 guished by want of appetite, a quick pulse, and a hot mouth 

 a general weakness of the whole frame, producing a dejected 

 appearance. There is likewise a quick motion of the flanks, 

 and coldness in the ears and limbs. The swelling is in the 

 form of a tumour between the jaws ; increasing with various 

 degrees of rapidity, occupjdng nearly the entire space, and gives 

 pain to the horse when eating ; he besides manifests a great 

 disinclination to feed. This is accompanied by much thirst, 

 but the swelling prevents him from indulging in water, and 

 having swallowed a mouthful or two he desists. After which, 

 and even after eating, he is frequently seized with a s])as- 

 modic cough, with suffocating symptoms. The swelling is 

 one uniform body, and consequently difiers from the enlarge- 

 ment of the glands in catarrh and glanders. 



Cause. — Neither the remote or proximate cause of tin's 



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