S9(T- DISEASES OF THE FEET. 



generally caused by treads, j)ricks in shoeing, suppurating corns, 

 or any other injury calculated to excite the suppurative action 

 -VV'ithin the foot, or in the structures of the coronet. 



The symptoms of quittor are lameness, swelling upon the 

 coronet, about the centre of which one or more small orifices are 

 seen, discharging either a thin limpid secretion, or a thick, perhaps 

 curdled, pus. From the external orifices, sinuses are found 

 leading generally in a downward direction, beneath the coronary 

 substance, lateral cartilage, and into the foot itself. 



In many cases the animal is excessively lame, scarcely able to 

 put the foot to the ground. 



A quittor differs from a wound, or a recent abscess on the 

 coronet, by the condition of the parts, which have taken on a 

 peculiar unhealthy action, by the character of the surrounding 

 swelling, which is hard to the touch, and by the presence of 

 sinuses. 



. The treatment will depend upon the cause. If it be any- 

 thing within the foot, as a festered corn or a prick, a depending 

 opening must be made at the sole, sufficiently large to allow the 

 free escape of the contained pus. This, along with poultices for 

 a few days, succeeded by a blister to the enlarged coronet, will 

 often be sufficient ; the foot being protected in the meantime by 

 a nicely adapted bar shoe, if it be too weak to go without. In 

 all cases of injury to the feet, I think that if it be possible to 

 do without the shoe it is better not to apply it ; but if the foot is 

 broken, or if the application of the shoe be imperative, a nicely 

 fitted bar shoe can be put on in such a manner as to remove 

 weight and pressure from the seat of the injury or disease. 



In cases of quittor, where no communication exists between 

 the wound and the plantar surface of the foot, it will be 

 necessary for the practitioner to introduce his probe carefully, 

 and to ascertain the depth and direction of the sinuses ; when 

 he has satisfied himself on this point, the Bistouri cache (see Tig. 

 76) is to be introduced as deeply into the sinuses as possible. 



Fig. 76. 

 the blade opened, and the parts cut as it is drawn outwards. 



