596 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



The crisis of rickets has a variable duration, followed by the 

 period of reparation. The repair is characterized by the 

 substitution of normal osseous tissue for the rachitic tissue. 

 The cure results from the introduction of calcareous salts 

 and the calcification of the rachitic bone, or of the appearance 

 of the normal osseous marrow in the rachitic lacunae, which 

 renders physiological ossification possible. The osseous tis- 

 sue thus formed, instead of being rarefied, is more dense 

 than bone in the normal state. In addition to lesions spec- 

 ially connected with the skeleton there is general atrophy 

 of all the tissues and secondary lesions resulting from di- 

 gestive and pulmonary disorders, which are observed at 

 the termination of the disease. 



TREATMENT.— The treatment should be immediate 

 and based upon the etiology. Prophylaxis is especially im- 

 portant. The mothers must be attended to before partu- 

 rition by good hygiene and an excellent system of alimenta- 

 tion. The young should be placed in good hygienic sur- 

 roundings and if the mother's nourishment is insufficient 

 other diet must be provided. It is through the medium of 

 the mother that the suckling young are acted upon in the 

 endeavor to increase the absorption of mineral salts. 



From the curative point of view, the animal should be 

 made to absorb substances rich in calcium carbonate. Herb- 

 ivora should have a grain diet of oats, com, barley and 

 farinaceous food generally, and carnivora must be given a 

 diet of meat. The administration of lime salts in the natural 

 state — bone powder, calcium phosphate, etc. — has been rec- 

 ommended, but as these substances are not assimilable, the 

 chloro-phosphate of lime should be substituted. Oleum phos- 

 phoratum, i per cent, in lo to 20 gram doses, is advisable, 

 but it must be stopped at the first sign of intolerance. Pow- 

 dered meat and cod liver oil are very easily absorbed and 



