ABNORMALITIES OF THE HORNY CLAW. 1109 



VI.— ABNORMALITIES OF THE HORNY CLAW. 



Fissuring, &c, of the horn, though very common in horses, is 

 rare in oxen, and when occurring usually assumes the form of a crack 

 extending from the bearing surface to the coronet of the outer claw 

 in working oxen. The bearing surface of the claw usually shows 

 contraction. 



Disease of the substance of the horn is very rare, but the claw is 

 sometimes so thin that the animal is useless for work on hard ground, 

 on account of the sole continually being bruised and causing lameness. 



Excessive growth of the toe is very common in stalled oxen. In 

 consequence of the absence of wear the toe grows upwards, forming 

 a kind of horn, while excessive weight is thrown on the bulbs, causing 

 local bruises and pain. The animals avoid standing, eat less than 

 usual, and lose condition. Shortening the toes relieves all these 

 conditions. 



Oxen with excessively turned-in or turned-out limbs necessarily 

 have asymmetrical claws, just as similarly formed horses have 

 irregularly shaped feet. Flat or dropped soles unfit working oxen 

 for labour, on account of their becoming bruised. 



A peculiar deformity consists in the point of one of the claws 

 overlapping the other ; the point of the inner claw often covers a 

 considerable portion of the outer. The claws do not separate when 

 the animals walk, and the opposed margins of the claws are bruised 

 or the lateral ligaments of the joint are strained. The overlapping 

 portions should be pared away. 



VII.— FOOT-ROT IN SHEEP. 



Apart from foot-and-mouth disease, and from the contagious 

 foot-rot of sheep dealt with in works on special pathology, chronic 

 inflammation of the claws occurs in sheep, and is accompanied by 

 chronic suppuration in the coronet or interdigital space. The horn at 

 the coronet is loosened, the claw undermined, the lower phalanges 

 and their ligaments sometimes become necrotic, and the pedal and 

 coronet joints may be attacked, though they suffer less frequently 

 than in cattle. 



Causes. As a rule, foot-rot is produced by the same causes as 

 panaritium. Continued standing on wet pastures or manure softens 

 the horn of the claws, produces maceration of the skin around the 

 coronet, and while it favours inflammation of the surface, leads by 

 infection to suppuration, which extends to deeper-seated structures. 

 Once the upper edge of the horn becomes loose, or inflammation 



