Diseases of cattle, sheep, goats and swineMoussu, G. (Gustave)
Science
Diseases of cattle, sheep, goats and swine
Moussu, G. (Gustave)
Veterinary medicine
When the abscess has opened, and the dead tissue separated, the abscess
cavity or wound should be regularly washed out with a disinfecting
solution, to prevent complications, in case fragments of necrotic tissue
have been retained. If, however, complications have occurred, no
hesitation should be felt in freely incising the parts, and, if
necessary, in removing one or both phalanges. When both joints of one
foot are affected, and arthritis threatens to or has set in, there is no
object in treating the animal, and early slaughter is to be recommended.
In cases where the disease follows foot-and-mouth disease, and threatens
to become enzootic, it can generally be prevented spreading by keeping
the foot-and-mouth subjects on very clean beds, and frequently washing
the feet with antiseptic solutions. Disinfection of the sheds is also
very desirable.
FOOT ROT.
Foot rot is a disease of sheep, and, like canker, is confined to the
claws.
Thanks to the progress of hygiene, it tends to become rarer, but is
still seen in the enzootic form in some portions of England and
Scotland, in the mountains of Vivarais, the Cévennes, and the Pyrenees.
It affects large numbers of animals at once, animals belonging to one
flock or to neighbouring flocks in one locality, and when it invades a
sheep farm, all the animals may successively be attacked at intervals,
according to the local conditions.
=Symptoms.= The disease develops rather insidiously, and the patients
always retain an excellent appetite. It begins with lameness, which is
at first slight, later becomes accentuated, and in the last periods is
very intense. On examination, the coronet and lower part of the limb as
high as the fetlock are found to be swollen. Palpation reveals
exaggerated sensibility, and on direct examination, a fœtid discharge is
discovered in the interdigital space. This discharge, which is peculiar
to the onset of the disease, only continues for a week or two, and is
succeeded by a caseous exudate which is always offensive, which moistens
and macerates the horn, the skin, the tissues in the interdigital space,
and the region of the heels. From the 20th to the 30th day after onset
the claw separates above in the interdigital space. The separation
extends towards the heel, then to the toe, exposing ulceration of the
subjacent podophyllous tissue.
From this time the patients experience very severe pain, and, as in
other diseases of the feet, remain lying for long periods. Movement
becomes extremely painful, and the animals frequently walk on the knees.
The subungual lesions become aggravated, separation of the claw extends,
necrosis of the podophyllous tissue and of subjacent tissue becomes more
extensive, and the inter-phalangeal ligaments and the extensor or flexor
tendons become involved. Finally, the claws are lost, and synovitis and
arthritis are added to the complications already existing.
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