loses flesh, and may die from intense suffering and blood poisoning. In
other cases the suppuration soon disappears, and recovery is effected by
the joint becoming stiff (anchylosis).
When the wound is forward, near the toe, and deep enough to injure the
coffin bone, caries always results. The presence of the dead pieces of
bone can be determined by the use of the probe; the bone feels rough and
gritty. Furthermore, there is no disposition upon the part of the wound
to heal.
Besides the complications above mentioned, others equally as serious may
be met with. The tendons may soften and rupture, the hoof may slough
off, quittors develop, or sidebones and ringbones grow. Finally,
laminatis of the opposite foot may happen if the patient persists in
standing, or lockjaw may cause early death.
_Treatment._--In all cases the horn around the seat of injury should be
thinned down, a free opening made for the escape of the products of
suppuration, and the foot placed in a poultice. If the injury is not
serious, recovery takes place in a few days. When the wound is deeper it
is better to put the foot into a cold bath or under a stream of cold
water, as advised in the treatment for quittor.
If the bone is injured, cold baths, containing about 2 ounces each of
sulphate of copper and sulphate of iron, may be used until the dead bone
is well softened, when it should be removed by an operation. The animal
must be cast for this operation. The sole is pared away until the
diseased bone is exposed, when all the dead particles are to be removed
with a drawing knife, and the wound dressed with 3 per cent compound
cresol solution or a 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid, oakum balls,
and a roller bandage.
Wounds of the bone which are made by a blunt-pointed instrument, like
the square-pointed cut nail, in which a portion of the surface is driven
into the deeper parts of the bone, always progress slowly, and should be
operated upon as soon as the conditions are favorable. Even wounds of
the navicular bone, accompanied with caries, may be operated on and the
life of the patient saved; but the most skillful surgery is required and
only the experienced operator should undertake their treatment.
If there is an escape of pure synovial fluid from a wound of the sole,
without injury to the bone, a small pencil of corrosive sublimate
should be introduced to the bottom of the wound and the foot dressed as
directed above.
The other c
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