DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 145 



will have to do it when there is no use in it ; if you do not the animal 

 will be taken to some one who will, perhaps, burn him, and you might 

 as well get your fifty cents or a dollar, and save the animal. Give a 

 few doses of tonics, and the animal will come out all right. You may 

 be called to check severe hemorrhage from cutting of the palatine 

 artery, which is best done by pressure. Saturate some tow with a 

 styptic and place against the pares, or you may take a block of wood 

 and tie it in the mouth to keep the tow in place. You may meet a 

 case where it is necessary to use the actual cautery. There is no 

 great danger of fatal hemorrhage from this accident, but it might 

 weaken the animal to a great extent. 



DISEiSES OF THE MOUTH. 



The gums are sometimes irritated in connection with the molar 

 teeth, this irritation extends and affects the pharynx and larynx, and 

 perhaps a severe cough is the result, called a dentition cough. It is 

 often the result of but a slight irritation at the back part of the gums 

 — this cough may not be very severe, but it is troublesome — or the 

 gum may become tumefied. The best treatment is to scarify it. We 

 find tumours in the upper and lower jaw, perhaps from the imperfect 

 development of the teeth, or from their growing in an improper man- 

 ner, from slight injury, irritation, etc. They may or may not be 

 malignant, and are likely to extend and involve the alveoli and bone. 

 If not malignant, and only upon the surface, it is called epulis, and 

 is not very common. If not malignant remove it, and you may also 

 have to extract some of the teeth, then treat as a common wound. If 

 malignant or cancerous, although you are able to remove it, and it 

 may do well for some time, it will return, extend and become a hope- 

 less case. The horse sometimes suffers from sharp, projecting teeth, 

 which occurs more commonly in old horses, from wearing down of 

 the teeth in an uneven manner. They will be sharp on the inner 

 edge of the lower jaw, and the outer edge of the upper jaw, which may 

 be from faulty formation. In such cases the animal has difficulty in 

 eating, grinds his food, ejecting it. Perhaps when driving him he 

 carries the head to one side, from the bearing of the bit not being the 

 same on both sides. If the teeth are sharp in the lower jaw they 

 lacerate the tongue ; if in the upper they lacerate the cheeks. The 

 best remedy for this is the tooth rasp, and there is no necessity for 

 using the balling iron or twitch. After rasping, feed upon soft food 

 for a day or two. There are more difficult cases where the teeth pro- 

 ject to some extent, generally in old horses, due to malformation of 

 the jaw. Sometimes the upper jaw extends over the lower, and a part 

 of the last tooth is not worn down properly, and after a time it inter- 

 feres with mastication, and the animal suffers considerably from 

 irritation. The same appears in the anterior tooth of the upper jaw, 

 but it is not so serious as the back tooth. The animal may be reduced 

 to a walking skeleton, almost ; although the appetite appears good, 

 the food is thrown out. You can detect by examining with the hand, 

 and if it is the last molar tooth you must throw the horse, using the 

 balling iron, and remove by means of the tooth shears or the large 

 forceps. If it is in front, there is no necessity for throwing the ani- 

 mal. After using the shears, rub the parts down smooth with a tooth 

 rasp, and feed properly, and he will improve rapidly. When these 

 growths are from malformation, they should be watched closely, and 

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