406 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 



This mixture of snow and salt is splashed over the feet and legs, 

 lapidJy lowering the temperature of the parts to the freezing point. 

 In mountainous districts, where the snowfall is heavy and the cold 

 often intense, frostbites are not uncommon, even among animals 

 running at large. 



Symptoms. — ^When the frosting is slight the skin becomes pale and 

 bloodless, followed soon after by intense redness, heat, pain, and 

 swelling. In these cases the hair may fall out and the epidermis 

 peel off, but the inflammation soon subsides, the swelling disappears, 

 and only an increased sensitiveness to cold remains. 



In more severe cases irregular patches of skin are destroyed and 

 after a few days slough away, leaving slow-healing ulcers behind. If 

 produced by low temperatures and deep snow, the coronary band is 

 the part most often affected. 



In many instances there is no destruction of the skin, but simply a 

 temporary suspension of the horn-producing function of the coronary 

 band. The fore feet are more often affected than the hind ones, and 

 the heels and quarters are less often involved than the front part of 

 the foot. The coronary band becomes hot, swollen, and painful, and 

 after two or three days the horn separates from the band and slight 

 suppuration follows. For a few days the animal is lame, but as the 

 suppuration disappears the lameness subsides. New horn, often of an 

 inferior quality, is produced by the coronarj^ band, and in time the 

 cleft is grown off and complete recovery is effected. The frog is 

 occasionally frostbitten and rnsij slough off, exposing the soft tissues 

 beneath and causing severe lameness for a time. 



Treatment, — Simple frostbites are best treated by cold fomenta- 

 tions followed by applications of a 5 per cent solution of carbolized 

 oil. When portions of the skin are destroyed, their early separation 

 should be hastened by warm fomentations and poultices. Ulcers 

 are to be treated by the application of stimulating dressings, such as 

 carbolized oil, a 1 per cent solution of nitrate of silver or of chlorid 

 of zinc, with i)ads of oakum and flannel bandages. In many of 

 these cases recovery is exceedingl}^ slow. The new tissue by which 

 the destroyed skin is replaced always shrinks in healing, and, as a 

 consequence, unsightly scars are unavoidable. AYhen the coronary 

 band is involved it is generally advisable to blister the coronet over 

 the seat of injury as soon as the suppuration ceases, for the purpose 

 of stimulating the growth of new horn. Where a crevasse is formed 

 between the old and the new horn no serious trouble is liable to be 

 met with until the cleft is nearly grown out, when the soft tissues 

 may be exposed by a breaking off of the parth" detached horn. But 

 even if this accident happens final recoveiy is effected by poulticing 

 the foot until a sufficient growth of horn protects the parts from 

 injury. 



