A pint of linseed steeped in boiling water, and added to a bran- mash, should be given every night; and in cases of poverty, soft nutritious diet will remove this abnormal condition of the skin. In the spring, clover, vetches, or lucerne will be very useful.
Haematuria – Bloody Urine.
SYMPTOMS.- The urine is mixed with blood; sometimes there are also fever symptoms, pain in the loins, and dryness and heat of the mouth; often the bowels are confined, or the dung is mixed with blood.
CAUSES.- Injuries and inflammation of the urinary organs, violent exercise, or stones in the kidneys or bladder; it may also arise from the external or internal use of Spanish flies.
Aconitum.- If there is much inflammation present, a dose every two or three hours, till this symptoms is abated. This remedy may often precede either of the following, or be given in alternation with them for a few times.
Arnica.- If the compliant is owing to external violence, or excessive exertion. A dose every four or six hours.
Cantharis.- If the urine is very bloody, and is passed in small quantities, and with evident pain. A dose every two or three hours.
Terebinth.- For symptoms very similar to those indicating Cantharis. When the bleeding takes place from the kidney it is especially useful.
ACCESSORY MEANS.- Much benefit may be expected from the application of large woollen cloths, after saturation in cold water, to the loins, and frequently renewed. Cold water injections may also be now and then resorted to. The diet should consist of boiled barley, cold; carrots or boiled turnips., cold; as a drink, barley-water cold. Further, the animal must have complete REST.
Jaundice – Yellows
SYMPTOMS.- These vary according to the stages or severity of the disease; but there will generally be some or all of the following :- Impaired appetite; thin, sad, and unthrifty appearance; hurried breathing; tenderness of the right side on pressure; diminished secretion of milk, and, in ruminating animals, the cud is chewed imperfectly. The conjunctiva and the mucous membrane of the mouth and nose become yellow, and the tongue is lined with a tenacious mucus.
In cows, the milk is tinged yellow, and is some-what bitter. The skin gradually turns yellow, the colour being particularly visible where the skin is not covered with hair. The dung and urine are also coloured yellow; the temperature of the skin is raised, and other symptoms indicative of fever are gradually present.
CAUSES.- The disease arises from a morbid condition of the liver, such as induration, inflammation, gall stones becoming fixed in the gall bladder, or in the canal between it and the bowels, so that the gall is impeded in its course, and other diseases of the liver.
TREATMENT.- Aconitum, when there is inflammatory fever, confined bowels, and high-coloured urine. A dose every three hours till these symptoms are abated.
Mercurius is the chief remedy after Aconitum, especially if there is yellowness of the whites of the eyes and of the skin, the urine and milk also tinged yellow, and the animal is excessively purged. A dose every three or four hours.
Arsenicum, when, in addition to the above symptoms, there are loss of appetite, scanty urine, and marked prostration. Two grains of the trituration every three hours.
Bryonia and Mercurius in alternation, every three hours, if confined bowels are a prominent symptom, and if there be any symptoms of inflammatory action.
FOOD.- Green and succulent feed; or, if not in season, cut carrots, turnips, potatoes, cabbage leaves, etc.
Laminitis, Acute – Founder – Fever in the Feet – Pumiced Feet
DEFINITION.- Such are the names applied by professional as well as stable men to inflammation, occurring in the laminated tissue placed between the os pedis and the crust or wall of the foot.
CAUSEs.- The most usual cause is mechanical, from pounding along a hard, dry road when the animal is fat, and unprepared for quick work.
SYMPTOMS., In the acute stage it is ushered in with the usual febrile symptoms common to most diseases, such as shivering, succeeded by sweating; heaving of the flanks; quick, full pulse; short and quick respiration, indicative of pain, which, moreover, is manifested by great restlessness, lifting the feet alternately, or lying down and getting up frequently. The animal seems rooted to one place with his hind legs under his body, his back arched, and, it stable vocabulary, “all in a heap.” The coronet and foot are much hotter than usual, and percussion gives pain.
TREATMENT.- The box should be strewn with sawdust, then covered with straw, and the horse compelled to lie down. The shoes must be removed, the soles thinned, and cold turnip poultices applied, or wet yellow clay, from which all small stones must be carefully picked out. The clay can be kept cold by throwing cold water on it occasionally, and, when obtainable, is the best poultice. After a few days, and also in mild cases from the commencement, the shoes may be tacked on and wet felt pads and swabs applied.
MEDICINAL TREATMENT.- The most effectual remedies are Aconitum in alternation with Arsenicum every third hour, so long as febrile symptoms remain, followed by Arnica. Should these fail, Belladonna, Rhus, and Bryonia will have the desired effect if used before matter has been thrown out inside the hoof. The diet should at first consist of gruel, bran-mashes, carrots, etc.; beans should be prohibited; oat given with moderation. The stable should be kept cool.
Laminitis, Chronic.
This form is so insidious, that we are not made aware of its presence until some organic change has taken place in the foot.
SYMPTOMS.- The horse goes feeling (not actually lame) in both fore feet, which, on examination, will found warmer than natural; tapping them with a hammer gives pain, and causes him at once to pick up his foot so struck. His action is low, and he goes on his heels. The sole becomes flat or convex, and the crust breaks away, so that there is some difficulty in keeping the shoes one.
TREATMENT.- Except some perceptible inflammation be present, internal medicines are of no avail; but if detected before the laminae lose their elasticity or the foot becomes altered in appearance, Arnica is the best remedy, which should be given three times a way. Felt pads should be kept of the feet, and cloths, wet with Arnica lotion, applied to the coronets. The horse should be fed on mashes and green food.
If the owner will consent to lay the horse by for a few weeks, a favourable result may be anticipated from taking off the shoes and turning the animal into a large box, the floor of which must be covered over with bog mould, tan, or sawdust. If the elasticity of the foot be restored, work on soft ground will do not harm, but walking half a mile on hard ground may bring back inflammation. This disease befalls all kinds of domestic animals, especially horses, sheep, and dogs. It every nearly resembles human itch, and is undoubtedly caused by the presence of a species of insect called by naturalists Acari Equi. These parasites are so small as to be scarcely perceptible to the naked eye; but are often present in vast numbers. They are not unlike the “acarus scabiei,” of the human scarf-skin, from which, however, he is now almost entirely driven. He is said to have a strong antipathy to soap, the free and general use of which would exterminate him from the pale of human society*1.
SYMPTOMS.- The affected parts are either dry and scaly, or humid and ulcerous. The animal becomes restless, and scratches and rubs itself, so that the diseased parts soon become denuded. Old, badly-kept horses, or emaciated cows, are especially liable to this disease. Sheep are attacked by it in a variety of forms. In dogs, the disease is often very difficult to cure. The only irrefragable proof of manage is the detection of the insect upon the skin. This can be done by combing a quantity of scurf from the skin, especially from those parts covered with downy hair and fine scurf intermixed, upon some material with a smooth surface. If the insect be present, it may be detected by its movements, by persons possessing unimpaired vision. A small magnifying glass will assist the observer.
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*1. The more general and extended establishment of public baths and washhouses (among the noblest institutions of our country), given the industrious portions of the community clean skins and frequent changes of linen, without the discomfort and injurious results of drying cloths in the domestic dwelling, would be the most effectual mode of annihilating the “acarus scabiei,” and of preventing the recurrence of the disease known as “the itch.”
CAUSES.- Uncleanliness; spoiled food, or, in the case of dogs, rich and excessive feeding; close, damp, and filthy stables; bad keep; rainy weather, which is apt, among sheep, to cause the humid or ulcerous itch; the disease also spreads by contagion.
TREATMENT.- The most efficient of all remedies in this compliant is Sulphur, which must be used both locally and internally. For local use, an ointment may be made in the proportion of one ounce of Sulphur to two ounces of lard; these must be intimately mixed, and applied by means of a clean, large-sized painter’s brush, or other suitable means. Great pains must be taken to ensure the access of the application to those ramifications of the skin in which the little creature is securely seated, and to extend it to every part where it exists; otherwise it will again spread, as a few of them will be sufficient to produce an entire colony. The ointment may be applied night and morning, and if the above directions are carried out, three or four dressings will generally suffice to effect a cure.
LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY, LONDON AND EDINBURGH, ETC. PHYSICIAN TO THE READING AND BERKSHIRE HOMOEOPATHIC DISPENSARY.
Author of "The Stepping Stone to Homeopathy and Health,"
"Manual of Homoeopathic Treatment". Editor of "The Homoeopathic World."