276 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



tion for moist corns. When complications arise, the treatment must 

 be varied to meet the indications ; if gangrene of the lateral cartilage 

 takes place it must be treated as directed under the head of car- 

 tilaginous quittor; if the velvety tissue is gangrenous, it must be cut 

 away ; if the coffin bone is necrosed, it must be scraped, and the re- 

 sulting wounds treated on general principles. After any of the oper- 

 ations for corns have been performed, in which the soft tissues have 

 been laid bare, it is best to protect the foot by a sole of soft leather set 

 beneath the shoe when the animal is returned to work. Only in rare 

 instances are the complications of corns so serious as to destroy the 

 life or usefulness of the patient. It is the wide, flat foot with low 

 heels and thin wall which is most liable to resist all efforts toward 

 affecting a complete cure. 



BRUISE OF THE FROG. 



When the frog is severely bruised, the injury is followed by sup- 

 puration beneath the horn, and at times by partial gangrene of the 

 plantar cushion. A bruise of the frog generally happens from step- 

 ping on a rough stone or other hard object. It is more apt to take 

 place when trotting, running, or jumping than when at a slower pace. 

 A stone wedged in the shoe and pressing on the frog or between the 

 sides of the frog and the shoe, if it remains for a time, produces the 

 same results. A cut through the horny frog with some sharp instru- 

 ment or a punctured wound by a blunt pointed instrument may also 

 cause suppuration and gangrene of the plantar cushion. Broad, flat 

 feet with low heels and a fleshy frog are most liable to these injuries. 



Symptoms. Lameness, severe in proportion to the extent of 

 the bruise and the consequent suppuration, is always an early symp- 

 tom. When the animal moves, the toe only is placed to the ground 

 or the foot is carried in the air and the patient hobbles along on 

 three legs. When he is at rest, the foot is set forward with the toe on 

 the ground and the leg flexed at the fetlock joint. As soon as the 

 pus finds its way to the surface the lameness improves. If the frog 

 is examined early the injured spot may usually be found; later, if 

 no opening exists, the pus may be discovered working its way toward 

 the heels. The horn is loosened from the deeper tissues, and, if 

 pared through, a thin, yellow, watery and offensive pus escapes. In 

 other cases a ragged opening is found in the frog, leading down to a 

 mass of dead, sloughing tissues, which are pale green in color if 

 gangrene of the plantar cushion has set in. In rare cases the coffin 

 bone may be involved in the injury and a small portion of it become 

 carious. 



Treatment. If the injury is seen at once, the foot should be 

 placed in a bath of cold water to prevent suppuration. If suppura- 

 tion has already set in, the horn of the frog, and of the bars and 

 branches of the sole, if necessary, is to be pared thin so that all pos- 

 sible pressure may be removed, and the foot poulticed. When the 

 pus has loosened the horn, all the detached portions are to be cut 

 away. If the pus is discharging from an opening near the hair, the 

 whole frog, or one-half of it, will generally be found separated from 

 the plantar cushion, and is to be removed with the knife. After a 



