134 DISEASES OF HORSES AND CATTLE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



DISEASES OF THE SKIN. 



The skin on the animal's body serves as a pro- 

 tection to the soft structures beneath it; also to 

 prevent noxious materials from passing into the 

 body, and allows the escape of waste materials 

 from the body. This is constantly going on. If 

 from disease or other causes these pores become 

 stopped up the animal soon suffers from the effete 

 matters being penned up in the system. It is 

 therefore of the greatest importance to keep the 

 skin of animals clean and healthy. It is said that 

 good grooming is worth half the food; and there 

 is a great deal in it, as it prevents disease of the 

 skin and keeps off vermin. 



"Hidebound" is not a disease, but the result of 

 disease, or the want of proper food and shelter. The 

 skin becomes dry on account of the secretions be- 

 ing stopped, and the nerves of the skin being in a 

 disordered condition, causing the hair to stand 

 erect. An animal that is fat and in good health is 

 never hidebound. 



We will divide the diseases of the skin into two 

 sections, the non-parasitic and the parasitic. There 

 are a great many names given to the non-parasitic 

 diseases, but they are very conflicting, and for our 



