FOOT ROT. 43 



removing one or both phalanges. When both jomls of one foot are 

 affected, and arthritis threatens to or has set m, there is no object in 

 treating the animal, and early slaughter is to be recommended. 



In cases ^Yhere the disease follows foot-and-mouth disease, and 

 threatens to become enzootic, it can generally be prevented spreading 

 by keeping the foot-and-mouth subjects on very clean beds, and 

 frequently washing the feet with antiseptic solutions. Disinfection of 

 the sheds is also very desirable. 



FOOT ROT. 



Foot rot is a disease of sheep, and, like canker, is confined to the 

 claws. 



Thanks to the progress of hygiene, it tends to become rarer, but is 

 still seen in the enzootic form in some portions of England and Scotland, 

 in the mountains of Yivarais, the Cevennes, and the Pyrenees. 



It affects large numbers of animals at once, animals belonging to one 

 flock or to neighbouring flocks in one locality, and when it invades a 

 sheep farm, all the animals may successively be attacked at intervals, 

 according to the local conditions. 



Symptoms. The disease develops rather insidiously, and the patients 

 always retain an excellent appetite. It begins with lameness, which is 

 at first slight, later becomes accentuated, and in the last periods is very 

 intense. On examination, the coronet and lower part of the limb as 

 high as the fetlock are found to be swollen. Palpation reveals exaggerated 

 sensibility, and on direct examination, a fcetid discharge is discovered in 

 the interdigital space. This discharge, which is peculiar to the onset of 

 the disease, only continues for a week or two, and is succeeded by a 

 caseous exudate which is always offensive, which moistens and macerates 

 the horn, the skin, the tissues in the interdigital space, and the region of 

 the heels. From the 20th to the 30th day after onset the claw separates 

 above in the interdigital space. The sejjaration extends towards the 

 heel, then to the toe, exjjosing ulceration of the subjacent podophyllous 

 tissue. 



From this time the patients experience very severe jjain, and, as in 

 other diseases of the feet, remain lying for long periods. Movement 

 becomes extremely painful, and the animals frequently walk on the knees. 

 The subungual lesions become aggravated, separation of the claw 

 extends, necrosis of the podophyllous tissue and of subjacent tissue 

 becomes more extensive, and the interphalangeal ligaments and the 

 extensor or flexor tendons become involved. Finally, the claws are lost, 

 and synovitis and arthritis are added to the complications already existing. 

 In an infected locality the development is always the same. The 



