LAMINITIS 45 



LAMINITIS 



Although laminitis is not a rare disease by any means, ^ 

 a little space devoted to a discussion of its treatment is 

 appropriate here. The symptoms require no discussion 

 in a treatise such as this. There does not seem to be a 

 treatment for laminitis which can be said to be standard. 

 While in some respects all forms of treatment for this 

 disease are similar, yet every veterinary practitioner has 

 some hobby that he indulges in, in the treatment of this 

 disease. 



A form of treatment that has many followers is the 

 adrenalin treatment. Here we have a form of treatment 

 that really gives most remarkable results and that has a 

 good foundation to stand on from a pathological and 

 from a therapeutic sense. When used early in the attack, 

 this treatment can be relied upon to shorten the course of 

 the disease and to prevent disagreeable sequela. A one to 

 one thousand adrenalin chlorid solution is injected sub- /^ 

 cutaneously at various points in the coronary region. ' 

 Some practitioners make the injection into the meta-^*^ 

 carpal artery. This treatment, however, is only of value 

 in the very early stages of laminitis. 



A treatment that gives uniformly satisfactory results 

 with very reasonable promptness is the following : With 

 a rasp thin out the horn in the coronary region as much 

 as it will stand. The thinned area should go completely 

 around the hoof and should extend downward toward 

 the sole at least two inches. The horse does not offer any 

 resistance to this rasping, despite the painful state of the 

 feet. The shoes, if in place, are to be left in place ; I can 

 imagine no exhibition of poorer judgment than that 

 which the veterinarian shows when he insists on remov- 

 ing the shoes from a laminitis patient. When the rasping 

 off of as much horn as possible has been completed, this 



