LAMENESS. 265 
days he sheds a claw. In such case, after the foot has been bathed with hot 
water and thoroughly cleaned, it should be covered as recommended in foot- 
soreness, and the patient laid up and kept on rather low diet until the toe has 
healed. Meanwhile the foot should be occasionally wet with a solution made 
of carbolic acid, two drachms and water, one pint. The claw may grow again, 
but the chances are against it. Its loss however is not likely to occasion any 
considerable inconvenience. 
When a claw has been torn off there is generally for several hours an oozing 
of blood from the wound. If that is troublesome it were best to cover the 
foot with a handful of dry flour, and bandage. After the bleeding has stopped 
the foot should be dressed, and the dressings be kept wet with the carbolic 
solution. 
After being affected for a long time a claw is sometimes lost because of a 
sinus or narrow canal in it. This is the result of a small circumscribed inflam- 
mation and consequent accumulation within the claw, and final discharge of the 
latter. The cause of the lameness produced is not easily determinable, for aside 
from the affected foot being a little warmer than the others, and perhaps slightly 
more sensitive under handling, there is nothing to indicate the real nature of the 
trouble. The following ingenious method of reaching a diagnosis has been sug- 
gested: After drying the foot thoroughly, place it upon a sheet of clean, thick, 
white blotting-paper, and force the dog to stand on it as heavily as possible. If 
a spot of moisture be left upon the paper, further close examination of the foot 
will exhibit on the worn lower surface of one of the claws a small hole of the 
minutest size, from which exudes a thin watery fluid. If this can be entered 
with a fine wire or probe, a sinus of course exists, and the cause of the lameness 
is explained. 
A cure cannot be effected without the use of the knife. After soaking the 
foot well in warm water, to soften the horny substance of the claw, as much of 
the surface as can be easily removed should be carefully pared away. That 
done the foot should be again soaked and more of the claw pared. This method 
should be repeated until the entire claw is removed. The sinus will then be 
uncovered. Now comes the final operation. A fine probe having been inserted 
and forced to the bottom of the sinus, with its point guided by this and its edge 
downward, a sharp knife should be entered at the opening of the sinus and made 
to cut its way in and out. Thus the ball of the toe will have been slit and the 
sinus laid open throughout its entire length. 
For a few days it will be advisable to keep the edges of the wound slightly 
apart by means of a small bit of clean linen. After sprinkling over it a little 
powdered iodoform, the wound should be dressed as for foot-soreness. Either of 
the solutions mentioned in the foregoing, chloride of zinc or carbolic acid, may 
be subsequently used to keep the foot moist. It is scarcely necessary to add 
that the operation should not be undertaken except by a professional. 
