408 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
alkaline salts which, like the mineral substances always found in 
the mud of cities, are more or less irritating, and it seems fair to 
conclude that under certain circumstances mud may become an 
important factor in the production of quittor.? 
While this disease attacks any and all classes of horses, it is the 
large, common breeds, with thick skins, heavy coats, and coarse legs 
that are most often affected. Horses well groomed and cared for in 
stables seem to be less liable to the disease than those running at large 
or than those which are kept and worked under adverse circum- 
stances. 
Symptoms.—Lameness, lasting from one to three or four days, 
nearly always precedes the development of the strictly local evi- 
dences of quittor. The next sign is the appearance of a small, tense, 
hot, and painful tumor in the skin of the coronary region. If the 
skin of the affected foot is white, the inflamed portion will present a 
dark-red or even a purplish appearance near the center. Within a 
few hours the ankle, or even the whole leg as high as the knee or 
hock, becomes much swollen. The lameness is now so great that the 
patient refuses to use the foot at all, but carries it if compelled to 
move. As a consequence, the opposite leg is required to do the work 
of both, and if the animal persists in standing a greater part of the 
time it, too, becomes swollen. In many of these cases the suffering 
is so intense during the first few days as to cause general fever, dull- 
ness, loss of appetite, and increased thirst. Generally the tumor 
shows signs of suppuration within 48 to 72 hours after its first ap- 
pearance; the summit softens, a fluctuating fluid is felt beneath the 
skin, which soon ulcerates completely through, causing the discharge 
of a thick, yellow, bloody pus, containing shreds of dead tissue which 
have sloughed away. The sore is now converted into an open ulcer, 
generally deep, nearly or quite circular in outline, and with hardened 
base and edges. In exceptional cases large patches of skin, varying 
from 1 to 24 inches in diameter, slough away at once, leaving an ugly 
superficial ulcer. These sores, especially when deep, suppurate freely, . 
and if there are no complications they tend to heal rapidly as soon 
as the degenerated tissue has softened and is entirely removed. When 
suppuration is fully established, the lameness and general symptoms 
subside. When but a single tumor and abscess form, the disease pro- 
gresses rapidly, and recovery, under proper treatment, may be ef- 
1An outbreak of quittor near Cheyenne, Wyo., which came under the author’s observa- 
tion, was caused by the mud through which the horses had to wade to reach the watering 
troughs. These troughs were furnished with water by windmills, and the mudholes were 
caused by the waste water. More than 50 cases developed inside of two months, or during 
September and October. Jn these 50 cases all forms of the disease and all possible comp)i- 
cations were presented. During the rainy season at Leadville, Colo., outbreaks of quittor 
are common, and the disease is so virulent that it has long been known as the “ Leadville 
foot rot.” The soil being rich in mineral matters is no doubt the cause of the outbreaks. 
In the city of Montreal quittor is said to be very common in the early springtime, when 
the streets are muddy from the melting snow and ice. 
