408 ACUTE LAMINITIS. 



symptoms be raging with unabated violence, and the period for a 

 crisis — the third or fourth day — be past, we may not hesitate to 

 pronounce unfavourably of the case. In fact, when the sufferings 

 of the patient are extreme, and from every appearance the case is 

 likely to terminate in death, either from irritation or mortification, 

 or in such disorganization of the component parts of the foot as must 

 inevitably render the horse a cripple for life, it often becomes an 

 act both of humanity and expediency to slaughter or shoot him. 

 For even should he, poor creature ! last out all his agony and 

 trouble, he survives but to become, for the end of his days, an 

 useless, or almost an useless, and consequently unprofitable 

 servant to his master. 



The Treatment of acute Laminitis, undertaken with im- 

 pressions on the prescriber's mind such as have been just de- 

 picted, will not lack either promptitude of action or boldness 

 and decision of purpose. The patient stands before us loudly 

 calling by his plaints for relief, and we feel conscious in our own 

 mind, that, unless we can and do relieve him early and effectually 

 either his life or his limbs must pay the forfeit. In setting about 

 his treatment a good deal must depend, as to the immediate steps 

 to be taken, on the stage of disease we find the patient in. If it be 

 possible to move him from the stall he is standing in — regarding 

 that to be an unfit one for him — a roomy loose box, where persons 

 can get readily at and about him, and he himself can lie down and 

 stretch himself out at full length, is, beyond all others, the best 

 place. We may also bear in mind, should we have any choice 

 of abode for him, that it is possible we may have a desire at some 

 stage of his illness to put him into slings ; though, for my own part, 

 I cannot say I have ever experienced ultimate benefit, or any but 

 very temporary relief, from such a proceeding. The next thing to 

 be done is, if practicable, to take the shoes off the inflamed feet, in 

 order to relieve them from all constriction. I say, " if practicable ;" 

 because every now and then, when the patient is found standing, the 

 pain of bearing the weight upon one foot while the opposite one is 

 being lifted up by the farrier, is so insupportable that he is unable 

 to continue it even long enough to have his shoe wrenched off. 

 Under these circumstances, some practitioners advise that the shoes 



