SYMPTOMS.- The animal may be unwell for several days; he may refuse his food; the hair over the surface of the body will look dry, and present a most unthrifty appearance. If he stand for a few hours in the stable, the limbs, particularly the hind ones, swell considerably. In a short time lameness becomes visible, the skin of the heels cracks at the back of the pastern, and an offensive discharge exudes. The skin of the legs will also become red and very tender; and if the disease proceeds unchecked, the cracks will become larger and ulcerous, and the discharge more abundant and offensive.
TREATMENT.- Remove the hair from the affected heels close to the skin, and foment the limbs by placing them in a bucket of warm water. This will remove all the dirt from the cracks, and those portions of hair which may fall in during clipping; after fomenting the limbs for fifteen or twenty minutes, rub them perfectly dry with a wash-leather or a soft cloth. If the affection be very severe, the application of a warm turnip of linseed-meal poultice to the heels will prove of great service; this, however, need not be repeated more than once or twice. In addition to these measures, after carefully drying the parts, bathe the cracks morning and evening by means of a clean soft sponge, first with warm soap-and-water, then, after being gently dried, with Arsenical lotion (Liq. Arsenicalis 3j., water 3ij.), or a lotion composed of equal parts of Sulphurous Acid, Glycerine, and water. At the same time give the trituration of Arsenicum in two-grain doses, night and morning, and hour before the usual feeding time, till improvement takes place. A dry flannel bandage to the legs, put on moderately tight, will be of much service when the inflammation is not of an active character.
The administration of a dose of Sulphur, in the morning, for several days, when recovery is nearly complete, will do good.
ACCESSORY MEANS.- Moderate daily exercise for a couple of hours on dry ground will prove beneficial. The diet should consist of mashes, carrots, and good hay.
Cutting or Brushing – Speedy Cut-Over reach and Tread
These are names given to bruises caused by one foot of the horse striking against another foot or leg.
CUTTING OR BRUSHING is caused by a foot striking the opposite fetlock or cannon-bone. It may occur before or behind, but usually behind. It arises from defective structure of the legs, or from wasting of the legs in horses badly fed.
SPEEDY CUT.- The inside of one foot or both feet usually strikes the fetlock of the opposite foot in passing it; but sometimes the cannot-bone is struck just below the knee; the bruise thus caused is called “Speedy Cut.” It occurs during fast action, generally in horses with badly-shaped legs.
OVER-REACH AND TREAD.- These are names given to a would between hair and hoof, inflicted on the fore coronary substance by the shoe of the hind foot. The noise caused by the blow is called clicking. All these injuries may be attended with great heat and tenderness of the injured parts. In some cases the paid from the blow may be so great as to cause the horse to drop as if shot.
TREATMENT.- Cutting or Brushing.- The swelling and soreness must be treated with the application of cloths saturated with Arnica lotion. The leg must then be protected by a woollen boot turned down over the fetlock joint. Rest is necessary till the bruise be healed; and meanwhile, if the horse has been underfed, his constitution should be strengthened. In some cases future injury may be prevented by the use of a feather-edged shoe for the hind feet, which, raising the heels, throws out the fetlock, and thus increases the distance between the joints. In the Cutting of the fore feet raising the heels in useless; the shoeing must be perfectly level, with careful rasping away of the part which strikes the opposite leg. Still, after all, it may be necessary to use a boot constantly.
Speedy Cut.- This should be the same as for Cutting; but in all probability the only effectual remedy will be the construction of a Speedy-cut boot, with a pad on the inside of the leg, reaching from the knee to the fetlock, kept in position by buckles, and resting on the fetlock joints.
Over-reach and Tread.- Any portion of detached horn or bruised skin should be removed with scissors, and the would cleansed and dressed with Arnica lotion, after being well fomented by placing the food in a bucketful of warm water. If from neglect the suppurative process has become established, Calendula lotion should be used instead of Arnica lotion. In order to prevent a recurrence of Over-reach, the toes of the hind shoes should be rounded in a swedge.
Diarrhoea – Purging – Scouring – Skit in the Calf Diarrhoea is purging or looseness of the bowels, in which the discharges are fecal. Dysentery (see Section thereon) is inflammation of the mucous membrane of the bowels, attended with increased secretion of mucus, generally tinged with blood, and with straining.
CAUSES.- Among horses, Diarrhoea may be caused by unwholesome food, or brackish or mineral waters; atmospheric influence; strong, cathartic medicine; nervous excitement; poison or impurity of the blood, or congestion of the lining membrane of the bowels. In full-grown cattle, the disease is caused by improper food, putrid water, etc., also by cold on the stomach induced by drinking cold water, to which the animal is not accustomed; drinking water immediately after eating; exposure to damp and cold weather, and as a result of a debilitated constitution. In calves, the disease may be brought on by the mother’s milk in consequence of the mother being fed with spoiled food, or being overheated by fatigue. Among sheep, Diarrhoea is most common in spring when the newly-grown grass is eaten. Lambs are subject to it either from the inferior quality of the ewe’s milk, or from eating grass for the first time, or from cold. Damaged food will cause it, so will worms. It is also frequently symptomatic of disorder of some of the neighbouring organs.
SYMPTOMS.- In Diarrhoea, the dung is loose and afterwards becomes liquid, and is sometimes spurted out to a distance, and may or may not be attended with griping pains. The appetite is impaired or lost; the pulse weak, quick, and intermittent; the respiration hurried; sometimes the discharge are very offensive. If the discharges are not too copious and long-continued, and the animal retains its spirits, strength, and appetite, and the evacuations are unattended with paid, and not very offensive, the Diarrhoea may be regarded as an effort of nature, to remove some unhealthy matter; under such circumstances it would not be wise to endeavour suddenly to suppress the discharge. Long-continued and violent diarrhoea, however, must be met with appropriate remedies.
TREATMENT.- Simple Diarrhoea is generally cured by removing the causes which produced it, by keeping the animal warm, and feeding it on sound, dry food. Protracted Diarrhoea requires rest in a comfortable stable, well littered with dry straw, and one or more of the following remedies:-
Aconitum.- Diarrhoea in the primary stage when it arises from taking cold; considerable fever; inflammation of the bowels. A dose every two or three hours, for several times.
Nux Vom.- Discharges more feculent than serous, slimy and offensive, with rumbling noises in the bowels and passing of flatus; when there are symptoms of Indigestion; and when the purging is alternated with Constipation; Nux should be given every hour for four days, succeeded by Acid.-Phosphorus or Mercurius
Camphor.- Painless Diarrhoea of a serous character, with shivering or cold skin; fifteen or twenty drops of Rubini’s Tincture should be given on sugar, as it will not mix with water, or in a little flour, and placed on the tongue, every ten minutes for three doses, and repeated after each motion.
Arsenicum- In watery, slimy, greenish, or brownish Diarrhoea, with or without griping pains, when a horse is prostrate, weak, thin, and without appetite; as also when it occurs in fevers of a typhoid character.
Mercurius.- When the dung is intermixed with mucus and voided without any perceptible griping; sometimes best to alternate with Arsenicum
China.- Most useful in chronic cases or when caused by hot weather, and not of an inflammatory character; painless discharge, loss of appetite, flesh, and strength; intermittent Diarrhoea; as a tonic when acute symptoms have passed away.
Veratrum Alb.- Where the discharges are altogether watery, frequent, and involuntary; the pulse collapsed, or almost imperceptible; the nose, mouth and ears cold; parts of the body bedewed with cold sweat; haggard expression; thirst, with occasional griping pains; the medicine should be given every quarter of an hour, increasing the intervals as the Diarrhoea ceases.
Bryonia.- If the disorder has been brought on by change of temperature, especially by that from heat to cold, by drinking cold water, or anything that has checked the perspiration and given cold; or if it be from drinking impure water, as in the stable yard or on moors or marshes. It is also indicated when the faeces are very watery and involuntarily passed, and contain undigested food.
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."