198 THE PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



Treatment. — Remove the affected animal from the sound 

 ones, and change the food, no matter how he has pre- 

 viously been fed ; and in the case of an animal sufficiently 

 valuable to justify such a course, change of climate will be 

 found of great benefit. Advise a journey to some part of 

 the country four or five hundred or a thousand miles away, 

 and try mineral tonics, acids, alkalies, etc. ; feed roots, etc., 

 to the animal. And something may be i^rescribed to apply 

 to the parts ; but local apj^lications are, in my opinion, of 

 no value. A change of climate has been known to cure 

 osteo-porosis. 



RICKETS. 



Rickets, or Rachitis occurs in all kinds of young animals, 

 but is of more frequent occurrence in puppies than the 

 young of other animals. It is due to a deficiency of earthy, 

 and an excess of animal, material in the bones. 



Causes. — The disease shows a tendency to occur among 

 the progeny of stallions or dogs that have been overdone in 

 stud service; and it is more likely to appear in weakly 

 or unhealthy animals, and more especially if the trouble 

 be one of an hereditary nature. Poor milk, or milk deficient 

 in certain constituents received from the mother, may also 

 be mentioned as one of the causes of rickets ; weaning the 

 young animal at too early a period, and forcing him to eat 

 food that is only fit for an adult animal to eat, and that is 

 not only unfit for the nourishment of a young animal, but is 

 incapable of being digested by such an animal ; or the 

 disease may occur as a result of any cause having a tendency 

 to weaken the animal. And there may be some other causes 

 of which we are not aware. 



Symptoms. — The bones bend unnaturally on account of the 

 excess of animal and deficiency of earthy material which 

 they contain ; the fore-limbs bend outward and the hind 



