hed with a mild astringent lotion,
and every morning and evening thinly poulticed or coated with carbolized
ointment; and the whole system ought to be acted on by alteratives, by
nightly bran mash, and, if the animal be in full condition, with a dose
of purgative medicine. In the worst and most extensively spread cases,
poultices of a very cooling kind, particularly poultices of scraped
carrots or scraped turnips, ought to be used day and night, both for the
sake of their own action, and as preparatives to the action of the
astringent application; and the whole course of treatment ought to aim
at the abatement of the inflammatory action, previous to the stopping of
the discharge. Nothing tends so much to prevent grease and swelling of
the legs as frequent hand rubbing and cleansing the heels carefully as
soon as a horse comes in from exercise or work. In inveterate cases of
grease, where the disease appears to have become habitual, in some
degree, a run at grass, when in season, is the only remedy. If a dry
paddock is available, where a horse can be sheltered in bad weather, it
will be found extremely convenient; as in such circumstances, he may
perform his usual labor, and at the same time be kept free from the
complaint.
Foul in the Foot.
This name is given to a disease in cattle, which presents a resemblance
to foot rot in sheep, but is different from this. It appears to be
always occasioned by the neglect and aggravation of wounds and ulcers
originating in mechanical injury--particularly in the insinuating of
pieces of stone, splinters of wood, etc., between the claws of the hoof,
or in the wearing, splitting, or bruising of the horn, and consequent
abrasion of the sensible foot; by walking for an undue length of time,
or a long distance upon gravelly or flinty roads, or other hard and
eroding surfaces. It is sometimes ascribed, indeed, to a wet state of
the pasture; but moisture merely predisposes to it, by softening the
hoof and diminishing its power of resisting mechanical injury.
The ulcers of foul in the foot usually occur about the coronet and
extend under the hoof, causing much inflammatory action, very great
pain, and more or less separation of the hoof; but they often originate
in uneven pressure upon the sole, and rise upward from a crack between
the claws, and are principally or wholly confined to one side or claw of
the foot. A fetid purulent discharge proceeds from the ulcers, and a
sinus may so
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