272 STRANGLES. 
food must be carefully prepared. No mashes, made by merely pouring 
hot water into a pailful of bran, stirring it round once or twice and 
splashing the mess into the manger, will now do. Even malt mashes 
will not answer the purpose. Good gruel must be carefully prepared 
and frequently changed. The drink must also be varied, so as to tempt 
the sick stomach,—as a general rule, equal parts of grits, (not oatmeal, ) 
linseed meal, bean or pea flour, may constitute the ingredients. Let the 
drink be always just warm when placed before the animal. Sometimes 
clover-hay, or simple hay tea, may form the basis of the drink; some- 
times one or other of the constituents may be withdrawn. Too much 
care cannot be taken of the horse at this period. Good nursing is now 
the most effectual, as well as the cheapest medicine; and all warranted 
expense at this time is a saving in the end. The breathing also is fre- 
quently most acutely distressed. In severe cases the symptoms are so 
alarming as to demand the immediate performance of tracheotomy. 
This the surgeon is forced to have recourse to, although at the time he 
knows it will only be temporarily required. When, though distressing, 
the disease is not of so fearful a character, relief may be sometimes 
obtained by mingling steam with the air which the animal inhales, and 
casting upon the source of vapor ten or fifteen drops of the etherial 
tincture of phosphorus. This last artifice may be renewed every quar- 
ter of an hour should it appear to afford even the slightest relief. 
Avoid physic as much as possible. In strangles, purge and kill is the 
rule. Open the bowels, if it be imperative, by green-meat; if that should 
not answer, let them alone, however confined they may be. Let the fever 
rage, but do not potter with one drug and another ‘to cool” the body. 
Some horses suffer terribly when they have strangles. The reasons 
for such a difference have not hitherto been ascer- 
tained; but doubtless science will one day dis- 
cover them. In bad cases the tumor appears 
under the throat, but it is larger than usual, and 
longer in maturating than is customary. Tears, 
frequently mingled with pus, flow from the eyes; 
a copious discharge runs from the nose; the pen- 
dulous lips are disfigured by long bands of thick 
saliva; the coat is dull, erect, and rusty; the 
heavy lids close the sight; often the nostrils 
become dropsical; the breathing is fearful; the 
tumor presses against the larynx, and a roaring 
sound is audible at each inspiration. 
For this case no more must be done than was 
directed for the milder form of the disease. The animal may be gently 
A BAD CASE OF STRANGLES. 
