72 PRACTICE OF EQUINE MEDICINE. 



drinking-water is often beneficial, from its cooling properties as 

 a drink. Potassium chlorate, from its refrigerant and specific ac- 

 tions. 



If the lymphatic glands are much swollen and suppuration is 

 taking place, hot poultices can be applied to hasten the process. 



Blistering with cantharides, and, after a day or so, apply the 

 hot poultices. Never be too hasty in opening these abscesses, but 

 let them get good and ripe (as we say); when the hair falls off and 

 the abscess points, make a crucial incision and allow the pus to 

 escape, after which wash out thoroughly. 



Astringent or even caustic and antiseptic solutions should in 

 some cases be injected daily to keep the granulations in proper con- 

 dition, trying to avoid sinuses being formed. When the cavity does 

 not yield to the solution you are using, it is well to change and use 

 some other drug or drugs. In the majority of cases, however, anti- 

 septic solutions alone are necessary, as the granulations are usually 

 neither exuberant nor unhealthy. 



Define irregular strangles. 



This form receives the name of bastard or malignant strangles, 

 and is seen mostly in dealers' stables. 



Abscesses form in different parts of the body, as the neck, in 

 the groin, in the inguinal region, along the intestinal canal, in the 

 thoracic cavity, and, in rare cases, in the brain. 



What are the symptoms ? 



Vary according to the seat of the abscess. The local symptoms 

 confined to the head show the glands to remain indolent, even with 

 blistering and poulticing; the head commences to swell, the animal 

 refuses food, the breathing becomes difficult, and the animal fades 

 away. There is a bloody discharge from the head, a fcetid odor, 

 and a tendency to develop a low form of pneumonia. 



How is this form to be treated ? 



Steaming the animal's head, the use of electuaries, washing 

 out the mouth with gargles, the giving of tonics, stimulants, and 

 good food, according to indications. 



Tracheotomy may be required where the dyspnoea is marked, 

 due to the swollen condition of the head or of the throat; there 

 is a liability in these cases, after an operation, to gangrene, so care 

 should be exercised. Remove the tube every twenty-four hours. 



