BONES: DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS. 281 



is not familiar with the normal appearance of the joint, it is well 

 to make a comparison between the injured and the sound one. If 

 compelled to move, the animal does so with great difficulty, jerking 

 the leg which it is unable to bring forward, hopping with the other, 

 and partially dragging the injured one. 



Treatment. — The treatment is simple. A rope 20 feet long should 

 be applied around the fetlock of the affected leg, passed forward be- 

 tween the front legs and up over the opposite side of the neck, back 

 over the withers, and wrapped once behind the elbow around that 

 portion of the rope which passes between the front legs. The leg is 

 then drawn away from the body and forcibly pushed forward by 

 an assistant, while another person tightens up the slack in the rope 

 until the affected leg is off the ground in front of the supporting leg. 

 The rope is then drawn taut and the assistant grasps the tail and 

 pulls the cow toward the affected side. The animal makes a lurch 

 to keep from falling, contracts the muscles, and the patella slips 

 into place with a sharp click, and the animal walks off as if nothing 

 had happened. If the animal resists this method of handling, it 

 may suffice to manipulate the dislocated kneepan by shoving it in- 

 ward and forward with the heel of the hand while the affected leg 

 is drawn well forward. Unless some precaution is taken the acci- 

 dent is liable to recur, as the ligaments have been stretched by the 

 dislocation till they no longer hold the bone with that firmness neces- 

 sary to retain it. The animal should be tied and the foot fastened 

 forward, so that the patient can just stand on it comfortably, by 

 means of a rope or strap around the fetlock carried forward between 

 the front legs, around the neck, and tied on the breast. 



Should this accident occur more than once it is a good practice to 

 apply a blister around the joint, as in the formula recommended for 

 sprain of shoulder, and observe the precautions as to restraint and 

 subsequent treatment there recommended. With this one exception 

 dislocations in the ox occurring independently of other complications 

 are rare. 



Dislocation with fracture may occur in any of the joints, and if 

 one is suspected or discovered, examination should always be made 

 for the other before treatment is applied. When a fracture occurs 

 near a joint the force sufficient to rend the bone is liable to be partly 

 exerted on the immediate tissues, and when the bone gives way the 

 structures of the joints may be seriously injured. It occasionally 

 happens that the injury to the joint becomes the most important com- 

 plication in the treatment of a fracture. In order clearly to under- 

 stand the reason for this a few words are necessary'' in relation to the 

 structure of joints. - 



The different pieces constituting the skeleton of the animal body 

 are united in such manner as to admit of more or less motion one 



