PREVENTION, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT 83 



This is a chronic form with the production of branny scales and 

 thickening of the skin and is accompanied by itching. 



A pustular or impetiginous form attacks chiefly the skin 

 under the mane and tail. The skin is raw, weeping or suppurating, 

 while the hair mats together in masses and falls, and there is a 

 tendency to the chronic scaly form. 



Eczema attacking the extremities is known as mallenders and 

 sallenders in the flexures of the carpal and tarsal joints, while above 

 the heels, in the bend of the pastern it is known as grease. This is 

 characterized by heat, swelling and redness, followed by a vesic- 

 ulated, weeping surface with the formation of a greasy, fetid 

 discharge, scabs and cracks in the skin, followed by loss of hair. 

 Sometimes the irritant secretion gives rise to the production of 

 fungoid wart-like granulations, known as " grapes " (chronic verru- 

 cous dermatitis) accompanied by great thickening of the skin and 

 swelling of the limbs. 



Treatment. — Prevention of squamous eczema consists in thor- 

 ough grooming and cleansing of the skin, and in the destruction of 

 parasites. The pustular form is sometimes caused by exposure of 

 the animal to constant rain or to the frequent use of common soap 

 on the skin. Grease may be avoided by not clipping the hair about 

 the fetlock in cold weather and by allowing the hair to dry before 

 any cleaning is done. 



In the scabby, scaling forms, the parts should be permitted to 

 soak over night in olive oil and then should be well washed with 

 green soap and warm water and a stimulant remedy applied, as oil 

 of cade, liquid tar or creolin dissolved in alcohol in the strength of 

 10-20 per cent. 



In the suppurating form, as about the mane and tail, the hair 

 should be clipped, the parts washed with castile soap and water, 

 sopped with hydrogen peroxide, and treated with an antiseptic, 

 stimulating agent. For this purpose the skin may be painted with a 

 5 per cent, silver nitrate solution, and dusted with iodoform and 

 tannic acid (1-3), or unguentum picis liquidse may be applied. 



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