the trouble in the laminae is removed in the course of a
fortnight the symptoms do not entirely subside, the animal retains the
shuffling gait, the sidebones continue to grow, and the patient usually
remains quite lame. This alteration of the cartilages generally prevents
the patient from recovering his natural gait, and the practitioner
receives unjust censure for a condition of affairs he could neither
foresee nor prevent.
The laminitic process occasionally extends to the covering of the
coronet bone, or at least concurrent with and subsequent to laminitis
the development of "low ringbone" is seen, and it is apparently
dependent upon the disease of the laminae for its exciting cause. The
impairment of function and consequent symptoms are much less marked here
than in sidebones. The coronet remains hot and sensitive and somewhat
thickened after the laminitis subsides, and a little lameness is
present. This lameness persists, and the deposits of new bone may
readily be detected.
_Suppuration_ of the sensitive membrane is a somewhat common
complication, and even when present in its most limited form is always a
serious matter; but when it becomes extensive, and especially when the
suppurative process extends to the periosteum, the results are liable to
be fatal. When suppuration occurs the exudation does not appear to be
excessive. It is rich in leucocytes and seems to have caused detachment
of the sensitive tissues from the horn prior to the formation of pus in
some instances; in others the tissues are still attached to the horn,
and the suppuration takes place in the deeper tissues.
Limited suppuration may take place in any part of the sensitive tissues
of the foot during laminitis, and may ultimately be reabsorbed instead
of being discharged upon the surface, but generally the process begins
in the neighborhood of the toe and spreads backward and upward toward
the coronet, finally separating the horn from the coronary band at the
quarters. At the same time it spreads over the sole and eventually the
entire hoof is loosened and sloughs away, leaving the tissues beneath
entirely unprotected. In other instances--and these are generally the
cases not considered unusually severe--the suppuration begins at the
coronary band. It extends but a short distance into the tissues, yet
destroys the patient by separating the hoof from the coronary band, upon
which it depends for support and growth. This form of the suppurative
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