716 
DISEASES OF THE HOCK. 
Fractures of the malleoli of the tibia and of the astragalus cause 
similar symptoms, and, unless accompanied by crepitation, are very 
difficult to diagnose. 
Injuries to the front of the hock are also difficult to treat, especially 
when large flaps of skin are destroyed. The unavoidable movement of 
this joint in horses irritates the wound, causing active granulation, 
which is sometimes impossible to repress. Fig. 264 shows such a 
condition, photographed from nature. 
Course and prognosis. The course depends principally on whether 
the parts remain aseptic. If they do not, recovery is highly improbable, 
and oxen should be slaughtered before they have lost much condition. 
The prognosis is therefore doubtful in all cases of inflammation caused 
by external injury or by metastasis, though inflammation is less dangerous 
in the. lower, less mobile portions of the hock than in the tibio-tarsal 
joint, in which the destruction of the articular cartilage is always followed 
by severe and permanent lameness, causing the patients to lie con¬ 
tinuously, and generally proving fatal to large animals. In the smaller 
joints, inflammation may lead to obliteration of the joint and restoration of 
the animal s usefulness. Provided the wound remain aseptic, there is less 
dangei. Such cases are more particularly seen in cows after parturi¬ 
tion. Slight cases, i.e., those where inflammation is not marked, heal in 
fouiteen days, but the more severe take four to six weeks. 
Treatment follows general principles. If the joint he injured, efforts 
must be made to preserve it. Small, and especially perforating, wounds 
must fust be carefully cleansed and disinfected, and a blister of sub¬ 
limate, with lard or paraffin (1—10), applied, or the firing-iron may be 
used. The swelling thus produced leads to rapid closure of the wound, 
and prevents infection of the joint. Large wounds, particularly those 
of an incised character, should be thoroughly disinfected and sutured. 
Quiet horses may be slung, and a surgical dressing applied; but when 
this cannot be used, and it is impossible to suture the wound on 
account of extensive bruising, permanent irrigation offers the best 
means of preventing infection of the joint. Lorenz cured a wound in a 
hoi se s hock by irrigating with 1 in 5,000 sublimate solution, and 
afterwards blistering. 
If purulent or septic inflammation has already attacked the tibio-tarsal 
joint, little can be done, though irrigation with disinfectants might be 
tiied. 'Washing out the joint with dilute disinfectants like 1 in L000 to 
1 m 2,000 sublimate solution has not hitherto proved very successful but 
it might be tried when the joint is opened. Syringing with disinfectants 
is useful m wounds in the lower portions of the joint. 
Hydioxyl solution lias been recommended, and success has once or 
twice followed its use in open hock-joint. Hohmann opened the hock- 
