DISEASES OF THE TAIL. 
493 
Treatment. Preventive treatment consists in cleanliness ; where the 
parts are already infected antisepsis should be adopted. 
To check cellulitis it may be necessary to scarify the skin of the tail 
lengthwise, and to follow this by the application of an antiseptic surgical 
dressing. Block scarifies as deeply as the periosteum, and rubs in 
common salt or turpentine. 
In dogs it is best to smear the wound with iodoform, collodion, or tar, 
or to cover it with a dressing to prevent the animal licking and gnawing 
the point of the tail. Should this fail, the part must be amputated. 
Sometimes it is useful to cauterise the stump. 
The so-called “ rat-tail ” produced in horses by gradual loss of the 
long hairs of the tail can only be referred to shortly. Up to the present 
the exact cause is unknown, though it has been thought due to psoroptic 
invasion; nor is there any sure means of preventing the loss of hair, or 
of assisting its return. Perhaps the best treatment consists in periodic 
thorough washing and the use of sulphur iodide ointment. Popow 
recommends scarification of the skin of the tail, but its efficacy requires 
further confirmation. 
(2) Paralysis of the muscles of the tail. Difficulty in moving the tail 
may be caused by fractures of the sacrum, and by inflammation and new 
growths, but primary nerve disease of the caudal muscles also occurs in 
horses and dogs, both as an accompaniment of paraplegia and indepen¬ 
dently of it. The disease is often seen in mares, and judging from 
recorded cases it seems to affect them particularly, though it sometimes 
attacks geldings. It generally commences slowly; at first the tail is not 
carried in the ordinary way, but hangs more or less limply between the 
hind legs, swinging to and fro as the animal moves, and becoming soiled 
by urine and fieces. After the lapse of several months, paralysis of the 
bladder (incontinentia urinse) and habitual constipation may appear, and 
manual assistance become necessary to empty the rectum, the last 
portion of which is gradually dilated. If relief be not afforded, the 
animal suffers from colic. Finally, paraplegia incompleta appears, with 
atrophy of the muscles of the quarter and of the hind leg. 
In 1890, Dollar saw several cases as sequelae to influenza. In one 
the symptoms were preceded by extravasation of lymph into the 
posterior chambers of both eyes, and the animal became temporarily 
blind. All of the cases seen had finally to be slaughtered. 
Dexler found the following appearances on the post-mortem examination of 
a case : The sacral portion of the muscles of the tail showed marked fatty 
degeneration, and the muscular bundles were of a pale yellow colour. The . 
muscles of the tail proper resembled the flesh of a fish, were pale, transparent, 
and as if soaked in water. The rectum was greatly dilated. The mucous 
membrane of the bladder was swollen, yellowish-red in colour, and uneven. 
