58 SPECIAL EQUINE THERAPY 



that mastication is imperfect, if not entirely impossible. 

 We remember the case of a Shetland pony in which the 

 course of the disease covered nearly four years; every 

 year during this time one or more molars dropped out or 

 were extracted. At the end of the fourth year not a tooth 

 remained. When we last heard of this animal it was 

 being kept alive on gruel. This is one characteristic of 

 osteoporosis when it affects chiefly the bones of the skull, 

 namely, that it frequently confines its ravages to these 

 bones alone. The animals may, in such cases, live for 

 years, showing no other manifestation of the disease 

 except the so-called "big head." 



Cases of osteoporosis presenting symptoms indicating 

 general involvement of the osseous elements either slowly 

 go on to death from inanition and exhaustion, or they 

 come to an end from such complications as fractures, rup- 

 tured tendons, and so forth. In some instances the dis- 

 ease seems to become cheeked suddenly, remaining sta- 

 tionary for years, and then suddenly becoming active 

 again. 



Treatment. When the characteristic changes have oc- 

 curred in the bones treatment is useless. If the diagnosis 

 is made early the addition of lime salts to the feed, or the 

 feeding of foodstuffs obtained from regions where the 

 disease does not exist, will frequently stop the progress 

 of the affection. 



