250 Hounds 



f estation of this complaint which is even less respon- 

 sive to treatment than an acute attack. Kennel 

 lameness has always been attributed as the result 

 of hounds lying on a damp floor, or else housing in a 

 kennel that is damp in some respects. This brings 

 us to the question as to whether a clay or a sandy 

 soil is the best for the erection of a hound kennel 

 upon; opinions are divided. A combination of 

 sand and clay is a very retentive soil and not a good 

 one to build a kennel on. All clay lands are both 

 cold and retentive, and favourable towards the pro- 

 duction of kennel lameness, especially if the drainage 

 is at all faulty. This troublesome affection is one 

 that is largely influenced by cUmatic conditions, 

 cold winds and wet rendering the trouble more 

 obvious than at other times. Pathologists are not 

 at all settled as to the causative agent of rheumatism. 

 Some authorities regard it as due to the presence of 

 micro-organisms circulating in the blood, others 

 that it is due to cold, and a third class as depending 

 upon the existence of lactic acid in the blood. From 

 a layman's point of view it does not matter much 

 which of these theories is the correct one. It is a 

 tolerably well-established fact that when hounds 

 come in wet and hot after severe exertion, and 

 then lie on a damp kennel floor, that such animals 

 will, more especially if constitutionally predisposed, 

 develop in a variable degree kennel lameness. One 



