180 THE VETERINARY SCIENCE. 



HYDROPHOBIA (RABIES) IN HORSES. 



This disease never occurs in a horse unless he has been 

 bi^en by a mad dog or cat. 



Symptoms. — He shows restlessness, will bite and rub where 

 he was bitten. These symptoms are followed by brain distur- 

 bance, and the animal will act somewhat as if he was suffering 

 from inflammation of the brain; but in this disease the animal is 

 wicked, and will bite at you in a peculiar way, just like a vicious 

 dog. The animal becomes more excited, turns round and round 

 in his stall until he gets weak and falls down, and gradually keeps 

 getting worse until he is relieved by death. 



Treatment. — If the horse is showing the above symptoms, 

 and he has been bitten by a dog, have him destroyed at once ; 

 but if you were called to see a horse after he was bitten by a mad 

 dog, and before he shows the above symptoms, take a sharp 

 knife and cut away the flesh arcund the bite, then burn it with a 

 stick of caustic, potash or nitrate of silver. If you have not these,, 

 burn it well with a red hot iron or anything to destroy the poison. 



LOCKJAW (TETANUS). 



This is purely a disease of the nerves and receives its name 

 by the way it acts on the muscles of the jaw. Sometimes they 

 become so set that you could not pry the animal's mouth open. 

 There are two forms of this disease, one is known as the trau- 

 matic form, this is where the disease follows an injury or opera- 

 tion, which can be seen ; the diopathic form of the disease comes 

 on the animal without any visible injury or operation. In this 

 case it is thought to be broug.ht on from worms or bots in the 

 stomach or from being exposed to extreme cold. 



Causes. — The general causes of this disease are when a nail 

 runs in the horse's foot, it may follow a stake or cut just about 

 the time the wound is healed up, and comes on from eight to 

 twenty-one days after being injured. It may also come after 

 wounds which seem to be healing extra fast. It follows opera- 

 tions, such as docking, nicking a horse's tail or castration ; it 

 sometimes occurs after very severe blistering. In referring to the 

 disease following castration, it is more apt to come on when a 

 horse is allowed to run through a river or spring creek, or being 

 left out in cold winds. As an example, twenty-four horses were 

 castrated and bathed in cold water a few days after, and sixteen 



