DISEASES OP TENDONS 219 



keep the wound aseptic (a vital factor in a joint) -would sug- 

 gest the desirability not to operate the horse, while the dog 

 offers better chances for a successful arthrotomy. 



DISEASES OF TENDONS. 



Inflammation of Tendons (Tendinitis). 



WTiat is tendinitis ? 



An inflammation of a tendon. 



Name the causes of tendinitis. 



Predisposed to this trouble are animals with a sloping 

 fetlock, those with poorly developed — that is, weak — tendons, 

 ■animals with low heels or long toes, the latter frequently seen 

 in our trotting horses, where the toes are allowed to remain 

 excessively long by some trainers; nutritive disturbances, 

 such as follow prolonged idleness in the stable; infectious dis- 

 eases. Direct causes, usually of a traumatic nature, of pri- 

 mary tendinitis are prolonged hard work, jumping, gallop- 

 ing, hard pulling, as in runners, trotters and draught horses ; 

 contusions, the result of kicks, etc., are occasionally the cause. 



Secondary tendinitis — that is, a tendinitis the result of an 

 ■extension of an inflammatory process to the tendon from 

 neighboring parts — are seen in cellulitis of the synovial sheath 

 in consequence of aseptic cellulitis of the plantar cushion and 

 in those inflammations of tendon sheaths, sequels to conta- 

 gious pleuro-pneumonia, etc. 



In Italian and Kussian horses, the presence of the filaria 

 cincinnata and spiroptera reticulata is given as a cause of 

 tendinitis. 



