412 



of the foot do not result in death, a new hoof of very imperfect horn 

 may be developed after a time, but unless the animal is to be kept for 

 breeding purposes alone the foot will ever be useless for work and death 

 should relieve the suffering. When only the sole sloughs recovery 

 takes i)lace with proper treatment. 



Peditis. — This is the term which Williams applies to that serious 

 complication of laminitis where not only the laminiB but the periosteum 

 and the coffin bone are also the subjects of the inflammatory process. 

 Neither is this all, for in some of these cases of peditis acute inflamma- 

 tion of the " coffin joint" is present, and occasionally suppuration of 

 the joint. A mild form of periostitis, in which the exudation is in the 

 outer or looser layer of the periosteum only, is a more common condi- 

 tion than is recognized by practitioners generally, and the intimate 

 contiguity of structures is the predisposing cause, the disease either 

 spreading from the original seat, or the complication occurs as one of 

 the primary results of the exciting cause. In the severer cases where 

 the exudate separates the periosteum from the bone, suppuration, gau: 

 grene, and superficial caries are common results; where infiltration of 

 the bone tissues is rapid the blood supply is cut off by the pressure 

 upon the vessels and death of the coffin bone ensues. Grave consti- 

 tutional symptoms mark these changes and soon prove fatal. 



In the mild cases of periostitis it is by no means easy to determine 

 its presence positively, for there are no special symptoms by which it 

 may be distinguished from pure laminitis. In the majority of the acute 

 cases, though, which show no signs of improvement by the fifth to sev- 

 enth day, it is safe to suspect periostitis is present, particularly if the 

 coronets are very hot, the pulse remaining full and hard, and the lame- 

 ness acute. In the fortunately rare cases where the bone is affected 

 with inflammation and suppuration, the agony of the patient is intense; 

 be occupies the recumbent position almost continually, never st;inding 

 for more than a few minutes at a time, suffers from the most careful 

 handling of the affected feet; maintains a rapid pulse and respiration, 

 high temperature, loss of appetite, and great thirst. It is in these cases 

 the patient continually grows worse, and the appearance of suppuration 

 at the top of the hoof in about two weeks after the inception of the 

 disease proves the inefficiency of any treatment that may have been 

 adopted and the hopelessness of the case. These patients die usually 

 between the tenth and twentieth days, either from exhaustion or pyaemio 

 infections. 



Gangrene occurs in the periosteum as the result of excessive detach 

 ment from the bone, combined with compression from an overprofuse 

 exudate. Other parts of the sensitive tissues are subject to the same 

 fate occasionally, from this last-named cause, and at times large terri- 

 tories will be found dead. 



Pumiced sole is that condition in which the horny sole in the neigh- 

 borhood of the toe readily crumbles away and leaves the sensitive tis- 



