Text book of veterinary medicine, Volume 2 (of 5) — John Shaqi
Text book of veterinary medicine, Volume 2 (of 5)Law, James
Science
Text book of veterinary medicine, Volume 2 (of 5)
Law, James
Veterinary medicine
This may be caused by traumatism, such as incised punctured or bruised
wounds. Wounds inflicted by the goad, by horns, and even by the yoke in
cattle must be looked on as factors. It occurs from obstruction of the
salivary ducts by calculi, or by grains, seeds, or pebbles introduced
from the mouth; from their irritation by the beards of barley and other
plants (brome, rye, wheat, etc.); and from the localization in the gland
of specific inflammations like strangles, pyæmia, canine distemper,
tuberculosis and pharyngitis. In most of these cases infective microbes
are prominent factors. They enter with penetrating bodies from the skin;
they extend through the weakened and debilitated tissues in bruises;
they penetrate the Stenonian duct with the various foreign bodies from
the mouth; irrespective of foreign objects they make their way up the
duct by continuous growth from the buccal orifice; in case of calculus
or other obstruction their extension is favored by the local congestion
and debility and by the stagnation of the saliva above the point of
arrest. When present these microbes even favor the deposition of the
salivary salts and formation and increase of calculi so that the
affection may advance in a vicious circle, the microbes favoring
calculus and the calculus favoring the increase of microbes.
_Symptoms._ In the horse in particular there may be premonitory symptoms
of fever, dullness, heat of the mouth, ptyalism, slow and imperfect
mastication, and the retention of food in the cheeks.
The Stenonian duct becomes swollen and painful. The parotid becomes
hard, hot, tender, and is surrounded by a softer pitting infiltration
which may extend down around the entire throat, and even along the
intermaxillary region to the chin. When the canal is obstructed it may
stand out as a thick rope-like resilient swelling extending around the
lower border of the jaw and upward toward the cheek as far as the point
of obstruction. When one parotid only is involved, the contrast with the
other is quite marked. The head is extended and carried stiffly. When
the nose is depressed, or when the head is turned to one side or the
other, the patient gives evidence of suffering from compression or
stretching of the inflamed region. The breath and mouth exhale an
offensive odor, determined by the decomposition of mucus and of the
retained food products.
Among remote effects may be named dyspnœa and threatened suffocation
from pressure on the pharynx and laryngeal nerves, and facial paralysis
from pressure on the seventh nerve.
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