PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF RING-BONE. 



883 



tinues, stimulation of the skin 

 may be successful. Cantharides 

 and biniodide of mercury oint- 

 ments, &c, are of little value 

 unless rest is given. When 

 possible, the patient should be 

 rested for four to six weeks. 

 Failing success by these methods, 

 firing may sometimes be success- 

 fully resorted to. Puncture firing 

 in two or three rows is most 

 efficacious. Sometimes a few 

 punctures over the swelling are 

 sufficient. Of late years deep 

 (needle)-firing has come to be 

 regarded as the most efficient 

 means of dealing with ring-bone. 

 Deep firing has been recom- 

 mended in France, but care 

 must be taken not to open the 

 joint. For firing Dollar uses and 

 strongly recommends Graillot's 

 zoo-cautery, or Dechery's auto- 

 matic cautery with fine points. 

 Periosteotomy has been sug- 

 gested, but is of no real value. 



If after such treatment lame- 

 ness continues, or if the animals 

 are of little value, and long- 

 continued treatment is objected 

 to on the score of expense, neu- 

 rectomy may be tried. As a rule, 

 the plantar, digital, or median 

 nerve must be divided, and the 

 operation is generally successful 

 unless mechanical obstruction to 

 the movement of the joint exists. 



As the treatment of chronic 

 ring-bone often calls for every 

 remedy in the repertoire of the 

 practitioner, and as the various 

 neurectomies usually represent his 



Fig. 499. — u, Internal plantar nerve, 

 which, below the fetlock, divides into 

 the anterior, middle, and posterior 

 digital nerves ; n, oblique branch from 

 internal to external plantar nerve ; 

 o, large metacarpal artery ; r, digital 

 artery ; y, internal metacarpal vein, 

 which, below the fetlock, is represented 

 by the digital vein. 



