3b2 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTEY. 



While this disease attticks an}' and all classes of horses, it is the 

 large, common breeds, with thick skins, heavy coats, and coarse legs 

 that are most often affected. Horses well groomed and cared for in 

 stahlos seem to be less liable to the disease than those running at 

 large or than those which are kept and worked under adverse circum- 

 stances. 



S ipnptom 8.— JMineness, lasting from one to three or four days, 

 nearly alwaj^s precedes the development of the strictly local evidences 

 of quittor. The next sign is the appearance of a small, tense, hot, 

 and painful tumor in the skin of the coronary region. If the skin of 

 the affected foot is white, the inflamed portion will present a dark-red 

 or even a purplish appearance near the center. Within a few hours 

 the ankle or even the whole leg as high as the knee or hock becomes 

 much swollen. The lameness is now so great that the patient refuses 

 to use the foot at all, but carries it in the air if compelled to move. 

 As a consequence the opposite leg is required to do the work of both^ 

 and if the animal persists in standing a greater part of the time it, 

 too, becomes swollen. In many of these cases the suffering is so 

 intense during the first few days as to cause general fever, dullness, 

 loss of appetite, and increased thirst. Generall}^ the tumor shows 

 signs of suppuration within fortj^-eight to seventy-two hours after its 

 first appearance; the summit softens, a fluctuating fluid is felt beneath 

 the skin, which soon ulcerates completel}' through, causing the dis- 

 charge of a thick, yellow, bloody pus, containing shreds of dead tissue 

 which have sloughed away. The sore is now converted into an open 

 ulcer, generally deep, nearly or quite circular in outline, aiid with 

 hardened base and edges. In exceptional cases large patches of skin, 

 varying from 1 to 2^- inches in diameter, slough away at once, leaving 

 an ugly superficial ulcer. These sores, especially when deep, suppu- 

 rate freely, and if there are no complications they tend to heal 

 rapidly as soon as the degenerated tissue has softened and is entirel}^ 

 removed. When suppuration is fully established the lameness and 

 general symptoms subside. Where but a single tumor and abscess 

 form, the disease progresses rapidly, and recovery, under proper 

 treatment, maybe effected in from two to three weeks; but when two 

 or more tumors are developed at once, or where the formation of one 

 tumor is rapidly succeeded by another for an indefinite time, the suf- 

 ferings of the patient are greatly increased, the case is more difficult 

 to treat, and recovery is more slow and less certain. 



This form of quittor is often complicated with the tendinous and 

 sul)horny quittors by an extension of the sloughing process. 



the rain J- season at Leadville, Colo., outbreaks of quittor are common, and the dia- 

 eaye is so virulent that it has long been known as the " Leadville foot rot." The 

 soil being rich in mineral matters is no doubt the cause of the outbreak.-'. In the 

 city of Montreal quittor is said to be very common in the early springtime, when 

 the streets are muddy from the melting snow and ice. 



