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240, Cattle — particularly shorthorns — suffer very much from 

 scrofulous or tubercular abscesses, or masses of matter, between the 

 back of the throat and neck bones — post-pharyngeal abscesses. These 

 cause the animal to make a great noise — a kind of snoring — in the 

 breathing, so much so, at times, that tracheotomy has to be performed, 

 thus allowing free respiration, until the abscess is ready to open, 

 which may be done through the mouth. I have operated on a number 

 of these cases through the mouth, with the small finger Embryotomy 

 knife. As soon as the patient is better, it should be fattened right 

 away, and sent to the butcher. Tumours, with long necks — polypi — are 

 also found m the throat, producing somewhat similar symptoms to the 

 abscesses just described, but they are readily twisted out by the hand. 



241. Choking. — Some horses, especially those that are greedy 

 feeders — if the com is not carefully spread out on the bottom of the manger — 

 will take too big a mouthful, and choke themselves. Sometimes a 

 piece of turnip or potato sticks in the gullet, but this is very rare in 

 the horse. The symptoms of choking in the horse are rather peculiar ; 

 the animal stands in a crouching position with the hind legs forward 

 under the belly, while the head and neck are extended, and saliva 

 flows from the mouth, the nose is pointed up and straight out, with 

 the back of the head seemingly pulled backward and down giving a 

 remarkable convexity to the lower portion of the neck. The action of 

 the muscles of the neck every now-and-again gives the impression that 

 the patient is trying to eject the lodgment, and the horse occasionally 

 gives a peculiar scream, and falls down on the knees. In this case, all that 

 can be reached by the hand must be removed, and the animal given a 

 drench of warm water, or, better still, thin oatmeal gruel, which induces 

 the action of the gullet. Cattle, however, are more subject to choking 

 than horses. They foam at the mouth, and soon begin to swell up on 

 the left side, switching the tail and stamping the feet, and this action 

 is accompanied by diarrhoea. Treatment : If the obstruction — 

 usually a potato or turnip — can be felt, an attempt should be made to 

 work the foreign substance up again into the mouth, by putting one 

 arm round the cow's neck, and with the fingers on each side of the 



