It is to be borne in mind that pure water and nourishing food play a very important part in the treatment of Anemia.
(_Sore mouth and tongue—Pustular Stomatitis_)
CAUSE.—Superficial eruptions of the mucous membranes of the mouth and tongue. Frequently seen during convalescence of intermittent fever. This condition may also follow diseases of the digestive system, as Indigestion, etc., due to the blood absorbing toxic materials which break out in the form of pustules about the mouth and the whole alimentary canal (stomach and intestines).
SYMPTOMS.—The appetite is impaired, the mouth hot, the pulse not much affected as a rule, the temperature is slightly elevated, the animal is unable to masticate, and small vesicles appear and eventually terminate into pustules and burst and discharge a small amount of pus at the parts where the sores are the deepest.
TREATMENT.—Remove the cause if possible. Feed clean, soft food that is easily digested, as hot wheat bran mashes and steamed rolled oats, vegetables, etc. For a mouth-wash dissolve the following: One dram of Copper Sulphate, one dram of Chlorate of Potash, one dram of Boracic Acid in clean hot water, and syringe out the mouth two or three times a day. To the drinking water add one ounce of Hyposulphite of Soda twice a day. Where the appetite is impaired, administer the following: Pulv. Nux Vomica, Pulv. Gentian Root, Pulv. Iron, Pulv. Nitrate of Potash each two ounces. Mix and make into sixteen capsules and give one capsule three times a day with capsule gun.
CAUSE.—This disease is usually due to work after a period of idleness, during which the animal has been liberally fed. It is found principally among highly-fed draft horses, and never in animals which are regularly worked. Light breeds of horses are also susceptible to this disease.
SYMPTOMS.—Attack is sudden and usually appears when the horse has traveled a short distance after having been stabled for a few days. The characteristic symptoms of this disease in an animal are: Excitability without apparent cause; actions seem to indicate injury of the hind quarters or loins. Animal has a peculiar goose-rumped look, owing to the muscles over the quarters being violently contracted, and are hard on pressure. One hind limb is generally advanced in front of the other, and on attempting to put weight on it, the hind quarters will drop until at times the hocks almost touch the ground. Sometimes a front leg is affected. The breathing is hurried. Animal is bathed in sweat, and is in such agony that it will seize almost anything with its teeth. Although the pulse is hard and frequent, the internal temperature, even in severe cases, seldom rises to any marked extent. The urine is dark-red to dirty-brown color. Owing to the stoppage of the worm-like movement of the bowels, there is generally constipation and retention of the urine. Sometimes the symptoms are milder than here described. In other cases the animal soon falls to the ground and continues to struggle in a delirious, half-paralyzed state until he dies. Sometimes this disease is mistaken for colic or acute indigestion, but it can be readily distinguished by the color of the urine.