TETANUS, OR LOCKJAW. 



929 



As the disease advances, the muscles all over the neck and 

 body become stiff and rigid, and the legs have the appearance of 

 of a four-footed stool. The animal has little or no power to move. 



For the first few days the teeth remain apart, but as the dis- 

 ease advances, the muscles of the jaw become so contracted as to 

 bring them close together. Hence the name locked jaw. 



The bowels are constipated, the urine scanty, and passed with 

 difficultv. The pulse is usuallv not ver^' liioh, but is easih' 

 raised by excitement ; he is very nervous, starts and quivers 

 when any one approaches him. His appetite remams good, and 

 from inability to feed, his hunger amounts to starvation ; he will 

 make every effort to suck up gruel or fluids, when, from tho fix- 

 idity of the jaws, he is un- 

 able to masticate. The 

 breathing, at first not much 

 altered, becomes difficult 

 and loud. The symptoujs 

 generallv reach their cli- 

 max about the third or 

 fourth day. 



The Causes of this dis- 

 ease are numerous. It com- 

 monly occurs in conse- ^^'-^- 803.— A tost for lockjaw. 

 quence of wounds, when it is called traumatic tetanus; in which 

 case it is not developed until about the period the wound is con- 

 sidered healed ; it may occur from causes not apparent, when it is 

 distmgmshed a,^ idiopathic tetanus; but it is generally produced 

 from a wounded nerve or bunch of nerves, pricking the tail, and 

 very often from docking, punctured wounds in the feet from glass 

 or nails, and sometimes from severe exposure to cold, and " I have 

 known one case to occur from fright." — (Somerville.) Worms 

 and other intestinal irritation .sometimes give rise to it. The pulse 

 is almost normal for the first few days. As the disease; advances, 

 the pulse c^uickens, and the animal is compelled to stand on his 

 legs until death, if it terminates fatally. If favorably, a relaxa- 

 tion of the muscles begins from the fifth to the seventh day. 



Treatment. — First, as t]i(; disease is of a nervous eliaracter, 

 quietness is of the greatest importance. The animal should bo 

 removed to an isolated place, or cool, dark, roomy loose-box, by 



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