836 
FOOT-ROT IN SHEEP. 
of pain. Particular caution is required when the animals show great 
pain, cease to feed, and fall off in condition. The more the claws are 
deformed, the slighter the chance of recovery. 
Treatment. I he animal should be removed to a dry place, all 
moistening of the parts avoided, and when the horn is loosened and 
undermined, provision should be made for the escape of discharges. For 
this purpose loose horn should as far as possible be removed, and the 
diseased spot carefully cleansed. When the disease is superficial, it is 
sufficient to smeai the parts with tar, carbolic acid, or carbolic glycerin 
(o to 10 pei cent.), or to powder the diseased surface with iodoform or 
similar disinfectant. Troublesome granulations are checked by astrin¬ 
gents like sulphate of copper, alum, sesquichloride of iron, &c., though 
the cause of such growths, which often consists in the presence of dead 
masses of tissue or projecting pieces of horn, must be removed. 
In deepei-seated disease, the treatment is similar to that in panaritium. 
Fixing the claws by a dressing or piece of wood placed in the interdigital 
space, and fastened by string, will also be found of service. 
In sheep, the horn of the wall and sole sometimes grows irregularly, 
or becomes too long, leading to suppuration under the sole. The treat¬ 
ment consists m shoitening the wall, thinning the sole, and giving a 
dry bed. Further treatment is guided by the same principles as in 
inflammation of the horse’s hoof. 
Finally, a giey fatty material sometimes accumulates in considerable 
quantity in the peculiar glands above the claws in sheep, and is dis¬ 
charged as a worm-shaped mass when the parts are pressed, or the claws 
foiced into contact. The condition is seldom of practical importance, 
but is sometimes looked on by shepherds as the cause of other painful 
conditions. I ndei some circumstances, retention of this secretion may 
certainly lead to inflammation of the sac. A painful swelling then 
appears at the front of the interdigital space, and discharges more or less 
puriform fluid if compressed. To effect a cure, it is usually sufficient to 
repeatedly empty the sac by pressure. 
H. DISEASES OF THE CLAWS IN CARNIVORA. 
The claws surround the last phalanx, which, in carnivora, is covered bv the 
claw matrix, just as is the os pedis in other animals. The third phalanx of 
the dog lies almost at a right angle to the second, with which it articulates 
anc just m front of the joint shows a ring-shaped depression, to receive the 
base of the claw. The portion of cutis which serves as matrix to the claw 
shows a circular thickening, the coronary band, which secretes the horn of 
the claw. The matrix covers the anterior portion of the third phalanx, and 
exhibits small furrows or laminae. The volar surface of the third phalanx is 
covered with a material homologous wuth the sensitive sole. The claw is 
ormed by two horny plates, lying closely together, and enclosing a space. 
