244 CHAPTER 26. 



CHAPTER 26. 



STRANGLES. 



493. Nature of Strangles. 494. Causes. 495. Symptoms. 496. General 

 treatment. 497. Treatment of the Local swelling. 498. Opening of the 

 Abscess. 499. After-treatment. 500. Treatment by depletives. 501. Is 

 the disease infectious ? 502. General remarks. 



493. Nature of Strangles. 



Strangles is a specific disease usually attended with an eruptive fever 

 frequently associated with catarrhal symptoms, generally appearing about 

 the period of adolescence. The local symptoms usually manifest them- 

 selves in, or in connection with one or other of the glandular structures. 

 Most commonly the submaxillary and parotid glands become inflamed, 

 and suppuration afterwards takes place in the connecting tissue and its 

 neighbourhood. 



In favorable cases the tumour usually occurs in the submaxillary 

 space, and terminates in an abscess in the cellular tissue and textures 

 covering the glands. 



When the glands attacked are near the surface of the body, the matter 

 in the abscess, which usually forms, is enabled easily to gain an exit by 

 the ordinary processes of nature ; or, if need be, with such assistance as 

 may be given by the lancet, and the system is thus freed without diffi- 

 culty from the suppurative matter. 



If, however, the glands attacked are in the mesentery, or if, as is more 

 rarely the case, abscesses form in the liver, lungs, or kidneys, the matter 

 has no ready means of escape and may become absorbed into the system, 

 where it will act injuriously on the already debilitated system of the 

 patient. When this occurs, the animal often falls into a kind of low 

 fever and generally sinks under its effects. 



The first development of the suppurative action is generally, as stated 

 above, around the submaxillary glands ; but if checked in that part by 

 improper treatment, abscesses may form elsewhere externally, or in the 

 internal glandular structures. Mischief also sometimes arises even in 

 simple cases, when the animal is too weak or too deficient in vitality to 

 be able, to throw out the eruption. 



Strangles, though a debilitating disease, in general leaves no injurious 

 effects. On the contrary the patient usually thrives well afterwards, 

 especially if the suppurative process has gone on favorably. If, how- 

 ever, the eruptive fever is checked by injudicious treatment, or the 

 animal is too weak to throw out the eruption, he will not do well. 



494. Causes. 



There are various theories as to the cause of this disease, but none 

 which satisfactorily account for it. By some it has been thought to be 



