QUITTORS. 393 



to apply the actual cautery to the diseased structures, making a 

 pointed iron, and pushing it, at a white heat, to the very bot- 

 tom of the sinuses. The results from this have been satisfactory; 

 the lameness has been relieved, the swelling removed, and 

 healthy action set up in the wound. 



When fistulous openings are situated upon or near to the 

 anterior surface of the coronet, great care and discrimination must 

 be brought to bear upon their treatment, as the pedal articula- 

 tion is there superficially seated and thinly covered by soft 

 structures, and a free application of an escharotic is sure to 

 cause the slough to extend into the joint. 



No horse should work while suffering from quittor, as it not 

 only causes great suffering to the poor animal, but renders 

 recovery almost an impossibility. 



FOUL IN THE FOOT 



Is a disease of horned cattle, and consists of inflammation and 

 suppuration of the inter-digital substance, caused by over- 

 growth of the hoof, which when elongated gives rise to strain 

 and inflammation of the internal structures, the irritation of dirt 

 confined between the digits, and in some instances tuberculosis. 

 It extends by neglect or other causes into the various articula- 

 tions and bones of the foot, producing great lameness, with much 

 fever, loss of condition, and even death. It is most commonly 

 seen in the hind feet, but it is not unusual to meet with it in 

 the fore feet. 



In the majority of cases, if not caused by tubercular inflam- 

 mation (see page 208), the disease, if attended to in time, is not 

 so difficult to manage ; the treatment being the careful removal of 

 all loose horn under which pus is seen to burrow, mild astrin- 

 gents, poultices, and a purgative. In the more severe cases, 

 where the inter-digital substance undergoes sloughing, the pro- 

 cess must be assisted by warm poultices and fomentations. 

 Afterwards the wound must be treated with astringents, great 

 cleanliness, and protected by nice pledgets of tow steeped in a 

 weak solution of carbolic acid, kept in their position by carefully 

 adjusted bandages. There are other cases where the phalangeal 

 bones are involved as high as the fetlock, with hard swelling of 

 all the tissues, separation of the digits by enlargement of the 



