APPENDIX C 



Various Forms of Manual Aid. 



1072 Balls, Boluses, Pills, are the most convenient forms of administering 

 medicines to horses and dogs. To prepare a ball for a Jiorse the medicinal agents 

 are mixed together with a little linseed meal, and beat up into a paste in a 

 mortar, with the addition of honey, treacle, or soft-soap, and rolled into a 

 cylindrical mass about three-quarters-of-an-inch in diameter, then cut into 

 lengths about three inches each, and either folded into fine paper, secured at 

 each end, or put into a gelatine capsule. Pills for dogs are prepared somewhat 

 similarly, but much less in size. In administering the ball to the horse, the 

 operator stands to the right or off-side and rather to the front, and with the 

 left hand takes hold of the horse's tongue and gently pulls the point of 

 the tongue to the outside of the mouth, and with the ball tixed between 

 the three first fingers of the right hand, passes it quickly along the roof 

 of the mouth to the back of the throat and leaves it, then withdraws the 

 hand from the mouth, releases the tongue, and holds the jaws firm and close 

 together by the aid of the left hand on the nose and the right on the under 

 jaw, and looks for the ball to pass down the gullet on the near— or left side. 

 Or the mouth may be kept open with the balling iron (Plate XXX., Fig. 5 J, 

 the tongue held and ttie ball put in as above. A balling gun (Plate LI., 

 Fig. 1 .) is sometimes used instead of the hand to place the ball at the back of 

 the mouth. To give a pill to a dog, place the left hand over the nose, just below 

 the eyes, and press the cheek of the left side against the upper teeth with the 

 fingers, and the cheek of the right side with the thumb, when the dog will himself 

 open his mouth wide enough for the pill to be put into the back part of the 

 throat with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. 



1073. Bedding. — It is important that animals should have clean, dry beds. For this 

 purpose straw is mostly used, both in stall and box. When straw is scarce the 

 bedding should be well dried in the fresh air every day. Sawdust is now 

 extensively used in large towns, also moss litter, and' both answer well. For 

 boxes we prefer the moss litter for horses and cattle ; it keeps down bad smells, 

 absorbs moisture, and ground damp In outlaying districts dried brackens 

 and dried rushes are much used for bedding. 



