42 ii BUREAU OF A^■IMAL INDUSTKY. 



by repeated functional exhaustion. Here slight work brings on con- 

 gestion, which results in serous effusion and temporar}^ symptoms 

 similar to those of chronic laminitis. 



Complications. — Complications concurrent with or supervening 

 upon laminitis are frequent and varied, and are often dependent upon 

 causes not fully understood. 



Excessive purgation is one of the simplest of these, and not usually 

 attended with dangerous consequences. It rarely occurs unless induced 

 by a purgative, and the excessive action of the medicine is probablj^ to 

 be explained upon the theory that the mucous membrane sympathizes 

 with the diseased lamina?, is irritable, and readih^ becomes overexcited. 

 The discharges are thin and watery, sometimes offensively odorous, 

 and occasionally persist in spite of treatment. It may prove disas- 

 trous to the welfare of the patient by the rapid exhaustion which it 

 causes, preventing resolution of the laminitis, and may even cause 

 death. 



Septicemia and j!>_j/t>m/«. — Septicemia and pyemia are unusual com- 

 plications and are seen only in the most severe cases, where bed sores 

 are present or suppuration of the laminas results. They die, as a rule, 

 within three days after showing signs of the complication. 



Pnewnonia — the so-called metastatic — needs no special considera- 

 tion, for in its lesions and s^aiiptoms it does not differ from ordinary 

 pneumonia, although it may be overlooked cntirel}^ by the practitioner. 

 Examinations of the chest should be made ever}'" da}', so as to detect 

 the disease at its onset and render proper aid. 



Sidebones. — A rapid development of sidebones is one of the compli- 

 cations, or, perhaps better, a sequel of laminitis not often met with in 

 practice. Here the inflammatory process extends to the lateral carti- 

 lages, with a strong tendency to calcification. The deposition of the 

 lime salts is sometimes most rapid, so that the " bones" are developed 

 in a few weeks; in other instances they are deposited slowly and their 

 growth is not noted until long after the subsidence of, the laminitis, so 

 that the exciting cause is not suspected. This change in the cartilages 

 may commence as early as the first week of the laminitis; and although 

 the trouble in the lamina? is removed in the course of a fortnight the 

 symptoms do not entirely subside, the animal retains the shuffling- 

 gait, the sidebones continue to grow and the patient usually remains 

 quite lame. This alteration of the cartilages generally prevents the 

 patient recovering his natural gait, and the practitioner receives luijust 

 censure for a condition of affairs he could neither forsee nor prevent. 



The laminitic process occasionally extends to the covering of the 

 coronet bone, or at least concurrent with and subsequent to laminitis 

 the development of "low ringbone" is seen, and it is apparently 

 dependent upon the disease of the lamina? for its exciting cause. The 

 impairment of function and consequent symptoms are much less marked 



