68 THE CAKADIAN HOESE 



cheeks get nipped, preventing the animal from feeding, and 

 keeping him poor and unthrifty. 



Treatment^The tooth-rasp, the chisel, or the tooth-key, 

 should be used as the case requires. The surfaces must be 

 levelled and made smooth, and boiled oats or barley, or bran- 

 mashes, with chopped hay, are the best sorts of feed for 

 horses thus troubled with their teeth. 



CARIES TEETH. 



Toothache is not very common in horses, but we have a 

 number of specimens beside us of genuine caries of the 

 tooth, which we have extracted since coming to this country. 

 It sometimes originates in the jaw, but more commonly in 

 the pulp cavity of the tooth itself, and renders the tooth 

 perfectly hollow, proving a source of constant annoyance to 

 the animal. 



Symptoms. — The animal is observed to have pain in 

 masticating, by turning his head on one side, and quidding 

 his food. The jaw is generally enlarged, and food is apt to 

 collect in the cavity. Sometimes, when in the upper jaw, 

 the maxillary bones are involved, giving rise to a discharge 

 from the nostrU of a very offensive smelling matter, (such 

 cases have often been mistaken for glanders.) When in 

 the under jaw, we frequently have a fistulous opening in 

 the cheek, with the characteristic smell of diseased bone; 

 from the matter which, says Professor Dick, " once smelled 

 is never forgotten." 



Treatment. — The animal must be cast, the diseased tooth 

 discovered by the hand or a probe, and with a strong tooth- 

 key or forceps carefully extracted. It sometimes requires 

 considerable forceto draw a horse's tooth, and the key must 

 be strong. The mouth should be washed out two or three 

 times a day to prevent food collecting in it. Thin gruel 



