General Catarrhal Stomatitis in Solipeds. 1 1 



pox, pustulous stomatitis, aphthous fever and even in strangles. 

 Mercurial stomatitis, rarely seen at the present time, is one of the 

 worst forms of the disease, and like the infectious forms will be 

 treated separately. 



Lesions and Symptoms. At the outset and in the slighter forms 

 of congestion there is merely heat and dryness of the buccal 

 mucosa. Redness may show on the thinner and more delicate 

 portions of the membrane, as under the tongue, on the fraenum, 

 and on the sublingual crest. But elsewhere it is hidden by the 

 thickness of the epithelium, and the manifestations are merely 

 those of suppressed secretion with local hyperthermia. 



As the congestion is increased there is seen, even at this early 

 stage, a slight thickening or tumefaction of the mucosa, especially 

 on the gums, lips, the sublingual area, the orifices of the salivary 

 glands, and the palate back of the upper incisors. On the dor- 

 sum of the tongue, the cheeks and lips, generally the lack of loose 

 connective tissue tends to prevent the swelling. 



With the advance of the inflammation the redness of the 

 mucosa extends, at first in points and circumscribed patches, and 

 later over the entire surface. Tlie epithelium drying and de- 

 generating in its surface layers forms with the mucus a sticky 

 gumni}' film on the surface, which, mingling with decomposing 

 alimentary matters gives out a heavy, offensive or even foetid 

 odor. 



The different parts of the moutli are now tender to the touch, 

 and this, with tlie fcetor and even bitterness of tlie bacterial 

 products combine with the general systemic disturbance in im- 

 pairing or abolishing appetite. In any case mastication becomes 

 slow and infrequent, and morsels of food are the more likely to 

 be retained, to aggravate the local condition by their decomposi- 

 tion. 



The dry stage is followed by the period of hypersecretion, and 

 in this tlie salivary glands take a prominent part, so that ptyali.sni 

 (slobbering) becomes the most marked feature of the disease. 

 The saliva mixed with the increasing secretion of mucus and the 

 abundance of proliferating and shedding epithelium, escapes 

 from the lips and falls in string}' masses in the manger and front 

 of the stall. When there is much motion of the jaws and tongue 

 it accumulates as a froth around the lips. 



