582 
LAM1NITIS NOT CONFINED TO THE HORSE 
SPECIES. 
By Mr. F. D. Gregory, V.S., Bideford. 
To the Editor of “ The Veterinarian .” 
Sir, — I n reference to your article on laminitis in the September 
number of The Veterinarian, allow me a little space to corro- 
borate your opinion that the disease is not exclusively confined to 
animals of the Solipede family. I have had several opportunities, 
in the course of a few years, of seeing and treating a disease of 
essentially the same character in the dydactyle. Amongst my 
employers are some cattle-dealers who buy very largely of young 
oxen or steers (as they are called here in the west). Some of them 
are driven from fairs and markets for a considerable distance, to be 
kept for a month or two to freshen on the farms of my clients pre- 
vious to their being offered again for sale. Perhaps the next day 
after the arrival of one of these herds, especially if the weather is 
hot at the time, my attention is called to one of these animals. I 
find him down, and apparently suffering pain, evinced by throwing 
about the head, & c. The appetite for food is gone, and he breathes 
quick ; shews great disinclination to rise, and, when got upon his 
feet, great difficulty to walk, nay even to stand, shifting and 
throwing the weight from one foot to another. Examining the 
limbs from above downwards, until we reach the feet, the seat of 
the disease is not detected. These are intensely hot and very 
painful, with sometimes, but not always, swelling about the co- 
ronets, shewing evidently that inflammation is there existing. The 
disease progressing, after some little time, as the result of the in- 
flammatory action, a separation of the hoof may be seen to take 
place around the coronet, and purulent matter to issue from the 
fissure. The hoof is now gradually thrown off, which is a long 
and tedious process, and the growth of new horn must take place 
before the poor sufferer recovers. This is a work of months. 
Such is a short account of this truly painful disease : it differs 
altogether in its nature from what the late Mr. Youatt and others, 
in their writings, called Foul of the Foot. The hoof is almost 
invariably cast or thrown off, for which we can easily account : 
the attachment of the laminae not being so firm or extended over 
so great an extent of surface in the foot of the ox as in the horse, 
it is less able to resist the effects of inflammation. 1 have seen it 
occur more frequently in the hind than in the fore feet of the ox. 
The details of the treatment will be hardly necessary to go into. 
