DISEASES OF THE FETLOCK, ANKLE, AND FOOT. 449 



Gom/pUcations. — Complications concurrent witli or supervening 

 upon laminitis are frequent and Aaried, and are often dependent 

 upon causes not fully understood. 



■ Excessive purgation is one of the simplest of these, and not usually 

 attended with dangerous consequences. It rarely occurs unless in- 

 duced by a purgative, and the excessive action of the medicine is 

 probably to be explained upon the theory that the mucous membrane 

 sympathizes with the diseased laminae, is irritable, and readily be- 

 comes overexcited. The discharges are thin and watery, sometimes 

 offensively odorous, and occasionally persist in spite of treatment. 

 It may prove disastrous to the welfare of the patient by the rapid 

 exhaustion which it causes, preventing resolution of the laminitis, 

 and may even cause death. 



Septicemia and pyemia. — Septicemia and pyemia are unusual com- 

 plications and are seen only in the most severe cases in which bed 

 sores are present or suppuration of the laminse results. They die, as 

 a rule, within three days after showing signs of the complication. 



Pnewnonia — the so-called metastatic — ^needs no special considera- 

 tion, for in its lesions and symptoms it does not differ from ordinary 

 pneumonia, although it may be overlooked entirely by the practi- 

 tioner. Examinations of the chest should be made every day, so as 

 to detect the disease at its onset and render proper aid. 



Sidehones. — A rapid development of sidebones is one of the com- 

 plications, or, perhaps better, a sequel of laminitis not often met with 

 in practice. Here the inflammatory process extends to the lateral 

 cartilages, with a strong tendency to calcification. The deposition 

 of the lime salts is sometimes most rapid, so that the " bones " are 

 developed in a few weeks; in other instances they are deposited 

 slowly and their growth is not noted until long after the subsidence 

 of the laminitis, so that the exciting cause is not suspected. This 

 change in the cartilages may commence as early as the first of tlie 

 laminitis ; and although the trouble in the laminae is removed in the 

 course of a fortnight the symptoms do not entirely subside, the 

 animal retains the shuffling g-ait, the sidebones continue to grow, and 

 the patient usually remains quite lame. This alteration of the 

 cartilages generally prevents the patient from recovering his natural 

 gait, and the practitioner receives unjust censure for a condition of 

 affairs he could neither foresee nor prevent. 



The laminitic process occasionally extends to the covering of the 

 coronet bone, or at least concurrent with and subsequent to laminitis 

 the development of " low ringbone " is seen, and it is apparently 

 dependent upon the disease of the lamina? for its exciting cause. The 

 impairment of function and consequent symptoms are much leas 

 marked here than in sidebonea The coronet remains hot and sensi- 

 36444°— 16 29 



