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DISEASES OF THE CLAWS IN CARNIVORA. 
after-treatment is required, the wound merely requiring to be kept 
clean ; some dogs will bear a dressing, others will not. A dressing is 
most useful when the claw alone is removed, and the third joint of the 
toe left. If needful, the wound or claw matrix may be smeared with tar 
or creolin. 
Loss of the claw. Chronic inflammation of the claw matrix, gradually 
leading to complete loss of the claw, is not uncommon in large dogs. 
Kutzbach described it as panaritium. Where it originates in the 
coronary band, the horn of the claw is thickened and degenerated. 
Sometimes, however, the “sole” becomes diseased, and then nothing 
abnormal is seen on the claw, but the matrix, and particularly the lower 
surface of the claw, discharges a turbid fluid. Horn production is in 
abeyance, and, as a consequence, the claw is more or less loosened. The 
changes in the matrix are sometimes so slight that nothing whatever 
unusual can be detected with the naked eye; in others, chronic inflam¬ 
mation of the sensitive “ sole ” exists, leading to suppuration or ulcera¬ 
tion. The claw is thus loosened, and when the process extends to the 
other portions of the horn-secreting membrane, is completely lost. The 
process often affects the subcutis, or even the periosteum, causing the toe 
to become three to four times its ordinary thickness. The proliferating 
tissue contains little yellow points or yellowish-red granulations, 
resembling those seen in bothryomycosis. 
The exact cause of this disease seems still open to discussion, though 
it closely resembles onychia maligna in man. In some cases herpes or 
eczema of the neighbouring skin had extended to the matrix of the claw, 
but in others no cause whatever could be discovered. Xutzner has 
shown that the disease is not due to want of cleanliness. It often attacks 
seveial feet, generally affecting the dew-claws, so that it might be viewed 
as due to distuibance of nutrition. Large dogs in the prime of life are 
the commonest subjects. It is most frequently seen in autumn and 
winter in dogs which live near the seaside and often go into the water. 
T rick reports the disease as quite common in Hanover ; he treats it 
by operation. Babe states that it is due to a microbe, the Cladothrix 
can is. 
The animal walks with a short, painful step, lies down a great deal, 
and has difficulty in standing. Local examination soon shows the 
character of the disease. At first the “ coronet ” is only reddened and 
swollen, but exudation soon occurs, and after some time small, bluish, 
prominent spots develop, which later suppurate and may lead to sinus 
foimation. The disease often persists, with remissions and exacerbations, 
foi a long time, gradually extending to the deeper-seated tissues. 
As a rule, the process cannot be checked, but leads to complete loss of 
the claw, though Frick has had occasional success by early injection of 
