THE STEAffULKSL 
38 
THE STRANGLES 
Symptoms. —This is a disease incidental to young horses, 
and few colts escape it. Occasionally it attacks old horses, 
in which event it is more difficult to cure. The usual 
period at which this disease shows itself is in the fourth and 
fifth years, although it is by no means uncommon to attack 
horses two years earlier. High-fed colts are more liable to 
be seized with it at an earlier age than those which are kept 
upon a lower diet The first symptom is cough, differing 
but little from that of a common cold, only that there is a 
more abundant discharge from the nostrils, which is of a 
yellowish colour, and unaccompanied by a disagreeable 
odour : it is also in most cases mixed with matter. There is, 
besides, a profuse discharge of slimy, stringy fluid from the 
mouth. The membrane which lines the nose is intensely red. 
It will be found that considerable swelling has taken place 
under the jaws and accompanied by fever, which is distin¬ 
guished by want of appetite, a quick pulse, and a hot mouth 
a general weakness of the whole frame, producing a dejected 
appearance. There is likewise a quick motion of the flanks, 
and coldness in the ears and limbs. The swelling is in the 
form of a tumour between the jaws ; increasing with various 
degrees of rapidity, occupying nearly the entire space, and gives 
pain to the horse when eating ; he besides manifests a great 
disinclination to feed. This is accompanied by much thirst, 
but the swelling prevents him from indulging in water, and 
having swallowed a mouthful or two he desists. After which, 
and even after eating, he is frequently seized with a spas¬ 
modic cough, with suffocating symptoms. The swelling is 
one uniform body, and consequently differs from the enlarge¬ 
ment of the glands in catarrh and glanders. 
Cause.— Neither the remote or proximate cause of this 
