PREVENTION, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT I5I 



stands with all four feet bunched under him. In cattle, the patient 

 often refuses to stand ; if standing, when all four feet are affected, 

 the animal assumes a posture similar to that in rising; when the 

 fore feet are attacked, the patient kneels in front ; while in the case 

 of the hind feet being inflamed, all four feet are held together. 

 The feet, especially the inner claws, are hot and sensitive to per- 

 cussion. In both the horse and cow the temperature is high and 

 the pulse rapid. 



Treatment. — In the case of the horse the shoes should be at 

 once removed and the horn on the soles of the affected feet thinned. 

 The animal should then be put in a box stall well bedded with cut 

 straw. In very severe cases casting or slinging the animal may be 

 done, to take weight off the feet, but this is not generally necessary. 

 A prolonged foot-bath, the patient standing for several hours at a 

 time in a tub of hot water, changed frequently, is the most effective 

 measure in the writer's experience. This requires much care and 

 trouble, however. In the interval between the foot-baths the af- 

 fected feet may be poulticed with flaxseed and bran. The action 

 of cold is sometimes equally useful, applied by causing the animal 

 to stand in ice water; or a poultice made with cracked ice and bran 

 may be used. An enema and a pint of linseed oil are advisable at 

 the onset, although powerful purges are to be avoided. In very 

 severe cases, bleeding from the jugular, digital veins, or the toe 

 of the foot, may be done with good results. In less sthenic cases, 

 tincture of aconite (3i) may be given on the tongue every two 

 hours to the larger animals, until the pulse is reduced in frequency. 

 The application of mustard paste to the chest will also cause a re- 

 vulsion of blood away from the feet. After subsidence of the heat 

 and tenderness in the feet, a thick, wide, rocker, bar-shoe should 

 be placed on the hoofs, and exercise in a soft, moist pasture en- 

 couraged, beginning with half an hour daily and increasing the 

 period. At the same time a fly blister should be applied about the 



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