MANUAL FOR STABLE SERGEANTS. 135 



Treatment. — Give 1^ pints of linseed oil at once. Add 1 ounce of 

 'potassium nitrate to the drinking water three times a day. Repeat 

 the oil in 24 hours if necessary. Shower the swollen leg with cold 

 water for 20 minutes three or four times a day and follow each shower 

 with a white lotion (half strength) bath or pack. When the pain 

 has diminished, give slow walking exercise followed immediately 

 by warm baths and gentle hand rubbing. Allow plenty of drinking 

 water and feed grass, bran mashes, and other laxative food?. 



Diseases of the Blood and Blood-Producing Organs. 



430. Azoturia.— An acute disease of horses and mules character- 

 ized by coffee-colored urine and severe disturbances in the movement 

 of the hind limbs. The disease occurs most frequently in highly-fed 

 horses in good muscular condition and accustomed to regular work. 

 It usually follows a rest of two or three days and appears when 

 the animal is again put to work. The condition is rare in poorly 

 nourished horses and in horses that are regularly worked and prop- 

 erly fed. 



Causes. — Feeding full rations during a short period (two or three 

 days) of rest in the stable, the horse being used to regular work. 



Symptoms. — The attack usually comes on suddenly and within 

 20 minutes after leaving the stable. Without any visible cause the 

 animal, which has been playful and full of life, suddenly becomes 

 excited, knuckles in one or both hind fetlocks, and acts as if he had 

 been badly injured about the loins, croup, and thighs. The muscles of 

 these regions soon become swollen and hard; they tremble and con- 

 tract ^dolently, but are not sensitive to pressure. The hind legs are 

 stiff and usually advanced, and, in attempting to put weight on 

 them, the hind quarters often drop until the hocks touch the ground. 

 The breathing is rapid, perspiration is profuse, and the_ animal is in 

 great agony. There is usually constipation. The urine is coffee- 

 colored and often retained in the bladder. The muscles of the fore 

 limbs and shoulders are sometimes involved, but not often. Some- 

 times the symptoms are mild, but if urged on, the animal falls to the 

 ground and struggles until it dies in a few days or a week. Mild 

 cases which are stopped before they go doii:n usually recover. 



Treatment. — Stop the animal immediately the first symptoms are 

 observed. To move him at once to the nearest stable is unwise. 

 Immediate and absolute rest is essential to recovery. Even the 

 hauling of the patient to the stable should be forbidden, as the 



