266 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



sues with proper bandages. When the joints are opened by deep 

 sloughing, recovery may eventually take place, but the joint remains 

 immovable ever after. If caries of a small part of the coffin bone 

 takes place, it may be removed by an operation ; but if much of the 

 bone is affected, or if the navicular and coronet bones are involved 

 in the carious process, the only hope for a cure is in the amputation 

 of the foot. This operation is advisable only where the animal is val- 

 uable for breeding purposes. In all other cases where there is no hope 

 for recovery the patient's suffering should be relieved by death. In 

 tendinous quittor much thickening of the coronary region, and 

 sometimes of the ankle and fetlock, remains after suppuration has 

 ceased and the fistulous tracts have healed. To stimulate the reab- 

 sorption of this new and unnecessary tissue, the parts should be fired 

 with the hot iron, or, in its absence, repeated blistering with the 

 biniodide of mercury ointment may largely accomplish the same 

 result. 



SUBHORNY QUITTOR. 



This is the most common form of the disease. It is generally 

 seen in but one foot at a time, and more often in the fore than in the 

 hind feet. It nearly always attacks the inside quarter, but may affect 

 the outside quarter, the band in front, or the heel, where it is of but 

 little consequence. It consists in the inflammation of a small part 

 of the coronary band and adjacent skin, followed by sloughing and 

 suppuration, which in most cases extends to the neighboring sensi- 

 tive laminae. 



Causes. Injuries to the coronet, such as bruises, overreaching, 

 and calk wounds, are considered as the common causes of this disease. 

 Still cases occur in which there appears to be no existing cause, just 

 as in the other forms of quittor, and it seems fair to conclude that 

 subhorny quittor may also be produced by internal causes. 



Symptoms. At the outset' the lameness is always severe, and 

 the patient often refuses to use the affected foot. Swelling of the 

 coronet close to the top of the hoof causes the quarter to protrude be- 

 yond the wall. This tumor is extremely sensitive, and the whole 

 foot is hot and painful. After a few days a small spot in the skin, 

 over the most elevated part of the tumor, softens and opens or the 

 hoof separates from the coronary band at the quarter or well back 

 towards the heel. From this opening, wherever it may be, a thin, 

 watery, offensive discharge escapes, often dark in color, at times 

 mixed with blood, and always containing a considerable percentage 

 of pus. Probing will now disclose a fistulous tract leading to ^the 

 bottom of the diseased tissues. If the opening is small, there is a 

 tendency upon the part of the suppurative process to spread down- 

 ward; the pus gradually separates the hoof from the sensitive lam- 

 inae until the sole is reached, and even a portion of this may be un- 

 dermined. 



As a rule, the slough in this form of quittor is not deep, and 

 if the case receives early and proper treatment complications are gen- 

 erally avoided; (but if the case is neglected, and, occasionally, even 

 in spite of the best of treatment, the disease spreads until the ten- 



