QUITTOR. 383 



This form of quittor is often complicated with the tendinous and 

 subhorny quittors by an extension of the sloughing process. 



Treatment. — The first step in the treatment of an outbreak of quit- 

 tor should be the removal of all exciting causes. Crowding animals 

 into small corrals and stables, where injuries to the coronet are likely 

 to happen from trampling, especially among unbroken range horses, 

 must be avoided as much as possible. 



Watering places accessible without having to wade through mud 

 are to be supplied. In towns, where the mud or dust is largely impreg- 

 nated with mineral products, it is not possible to adopt complete pre- 

 ventive measures. Much can be done, however, by careful cleans- 

 ing of the feet and legs as soon as the animal returns from work. 

 Warm water should be used to remove the mud and dirt, after which 

 the parts are to be thoroughly dried with soft cloths. 



The means which are to be adopted for the cure of cutaneous quit- 

 tor vary with the stage of the disease at the time the case is presented 

 for treatment. If the case is seen early — that is, before any of the 

 signs of suppuration have developed — the affected foot is to be placed 

 under a constant stream of cold water, with the object of arresting a 

 further extension of the inflammatory process. To accomplish this, 

 put the patient in slings in a narrow stall having a slat or open floor. 

 Bandage the foot and leg to the knee or hock, as the case may be, with 

 flannel bandages loosely applied. Set a tub or barrel filled with cold 

 water above the patient, and by the use of a small rubber hose of suf- 

 ficient length make a siphon which will carry the water from the bot- 

 tom of the tub to the leg at the top of the bandages. The stream of 

 water should be quite small, and is to be continued until the inflamma- 

 tion has entirely subsided or until the presence of pus can be detected 

 in the tumor. A^^ien suppuration has commenced, the process should 

 be aided by the use of warm baths and poultices of linseed meal or 

 boiled turnips. If the tumor is of rapid growth, accompanied by 

 intense pain, relief is secured and sloughing largely limited by a free 

 incision of the parts. The incision should be vertical and deep into 

 the tumor, care being taken not to entirely divide the coronary band. 

 If the tumor is large, more than one incision may be necessary. 



The foot should now be placed in a warm bath for half an hour or 

 longer and then poulticed. The hemorrhage produced by the cutting 

 and encouraged by the warm bath is generally very copious and soon 

 gives relief to the overtension of the parts. 



In other cases it will be found that suppuration is well under way, 

 so that the center of the tumor is soft when the patient is first pre- 

 sented for treatment. It is always good surgery to relieve the tumor 

 of pus whenever its presence can be detected; hence in these cases a 

 free incision must be made into the softened parts, the pus evacuated, 

 and the foot poulticed. 



