399 



and remainiug for a time, produces the same results. A cut through 

 the horny frog with some sharp instrument or a punctured ^vound with 

 ablunt-i^ointed insti'ument may also cause suppuration and gangrene 

 of the plantar cushion. Broad, flat feet, with low heels and a fleshy 

 frog, are most liable to these injuries. 



Sijni2:)/oins. — Lameness, severe in x^i'oportion to the extent of the 

 bruise and the consequent suppuration, is always an earlj^ sN-mptom. 

 When the animal moves the toe only is placed to the ground, or the 

 foot is carried in the air and the patient hobbles along on three legs. 

 When he is at rest the foot is set forward with the toe resting on the 

 ground and the leg flexed at the fetlock joint. As soon as the pus 

 finds its way to the surface the lameness improves. If the frog is 

 examined early the injured spot may usually be found, and if nooj)en- 

 ing exists the collection of piis maybe detected working its wa}' toward 

 the heels. The horn is felt to be loosened from the deeper tissues, 

 and if it is pared through, a thin, yellow, watery and offensive pus 

 escapes. In other cases a ragged oj^ening is found in the frog, lead- 

 ing down to a mass of dead, sloughing tissues, which are pale green 

 in color if gangrene of the jDlantar cushion has set in. In rare cases 

 the coflin bone may be involved in the injury and a small portion of 

 it become carious. 



Treatment. — If the injury is seen at once the foot should be i)hicfKi 

 in a bath of cold water with the object of preventing suppuration. If 

 suppuration has already set in the horn of the frog, and of the bars 

 and l)ranches of the sole if necessary, is to be pared thin, so that all 

 possible pressure may be removed and the foot poulticed. As soon as 

 the lius has loosened the horn, all the detached portions are to be cut 

 away. If the pus is discharging from an opening near the hair the 

 whole frog, or one-half of it, will generally be found separated from 

 the plantar cushion, and is to be removed with the knife. After a 

 few days' time the gangrenous portion of the cushion will slough off 

 under the stimulating effects of the poultice, and under rare circum- 

 stances only should the dead parts be removed by surgical inter- 

 ference. Where the slough is all detached the remaining wound is to 

 be treated with simple stimulating dressings, such as tincture of aloes 

 oi- tui-pentine, oakum balls, and bandages as directed in punctured 

 wounds. The lameness having subsided, and a thin layer of new 

 horn having grown on the exposed parts, the foot may be shod, the 

 frog covered with a thick pad of oakum, held in x^lace by pieces of tin 

 fitted to slide under the shoe, and the animal returned to slow work. 

 Where caries of the coffin bone, etc., follow the injur}' the treatment 

 recommended for these complications in i^unctured wounds of the foot 

 must be I'esorted to. 



PUNCTURED WOUNDS OF THE FOOT. 



Of all the injuries to which the foot of the horse is liable none are 

 more common than i)unctured wounds, and none arc more serious 



