92 THE CAXIXE TEETH. 



teeth should be examined, and if the unshed molars 

 are causing irritation, they should be removed with 

 the forceps. Hundreds of young cattle have been sac- 

 rificed from this cause— actually dying of starvation. 

 In the horse the same condition of the grinders may 

 exist, but it is very unusual. The corner incisors, 

 however, may present the same anomalous condition. 

 Horses from four years to four years and six months 

 old should have their teeth examined occasionally to 

 see if all is going on w^ell. 



" Horses at four years old are subject to a distressing 

 cough. At this age the third temporary grinder is 

 replaced by its permanent successor, and at the same 

 time the sixth grinder is being cut. Some irritation 

 exists in the gums during the eruption of all the teeth, 

 and in some instances it is excessive, extending from 

 the gums to the fauces and larynx. This is particu- 

 larly the case with the sixth grinder, and as a result of 

 the extension of the irritation, cough is excited, usually 

 in the morning, when the animal begins to feed. It 

 is loud, sonorous, and prolonged, the horse frequently 

 coughing twenty, thirty, or even forty times without 

 ceasing. It is a throat cough, originating in laryngeal 

 irritation. 



"The treatment for this, which may be truly said to 

 be a tooth-cough, is careful dieting on crushed food; 

 hay, not much bran ; grass, if in season, or roots if 

 grass is not obtainable ; alkaline medicines, more par- 

 ticularly the bicarbonate of soda; gentle aperients 

 occasionally, if the bowels be irregular. If the faeces 

 are fetid the fetor will be much diminished by a few 

 doses of the hyposulphite of soda, the mouth to be gar- 

 gled with some cooling mixture, such as the borate of 

 soda or alum." 



