'22^ DISEASES OF THE P^EET. 



Quittor (^Fistula at the Coronet^. 



DEFINITION, NATURE, AND SYMPTOMS.— A quittor is an 

 abscess consisting of one or more canals which open or tend to open 

 at the coronet and which extend between the wall of the hoof and 

 pedal bone. It appears as a hard, hot, and painful swelling on the 

 coronet, when that part is the seat of the exciting injury. If the 

 cause has been a prick or su^^purating corn, it will generally first 

 show its presence by a moist condition of the skin of that part of 

 the coronet through which it seeks an opening. As a rule, a 

 quittor suppurates slowly, and is more painful during its early 

 than its later stages. Its healing is often delayed by the presence 

 in it of a diseased portion of the lateral cartilage of that side, of 

 diseased or dead bone, or of dead fibrous tissue; and by the walls 

 of the sinus, from their proximity to horn-secreting membranes, 

 becoming hardened, in which case they will have to be destroyed 

 by caustics or the hot iron. 



VARIETIES AND CAUSES.— We may have quittors originating 

 from (1) injury of the coronet, as from " treads," blows, frostbite, 

 or aggravated sandcrack; from (2) injury of the sensitive sole, as 

 in suppurating corns, in which the pus follows the line of least 

 resistance to the coronet; and from (3) hurt inflicted on sensitive 

 structures between the sole and the coronet, as in pricks in shoe- 

 ing. When the coronet has been the seat of injury in the first 

 instance, the resulting pus lodges behind the wall of the hoof, 

 corrodes (p. 15) the soft structures with which it comes in contact, 

 and gravitating downwards on being pressed either forwards or 

 backwards, gradually burrows one or more fistuloe or canals inside 

 the wall of the hoof. Quittors are principally confined to heavy 

 draught horses; as these animals, from the nature of their shoe- 

 ing and work, are much more liable to injuries which produce this 

 affection than are those of lighter breeds. Owing to wounds 

 inflicted by the sharp calkins which are used during frosty weather, 

 quittor is most common in winter. 



TREATMENT. — The principles governing the treatment of a 

 quittor are those which are applicable to an abscess (p. 79) ; always 

 remembering that any dead or diseased structures existing in it, 

 should be removed without delay. If the tumour on the coronet 

 has not " come to a head," we may stimulate it by rubbing into it 

 an ointment composed of 1 part of biniodide of mercury to 4 

 parts of lard. In case of a deep quittor, it saves time and secures 

 drainage, to convert the sinus into an open wound by cutting 



