The symptoms start out with more or less sluggishness. The animal eats little, and does not care to take much exercise. A little watery discharge frequently appears from the eyes, and about the same time a watery discharge from the nostrils, which soon becomes thicker and more yellow in color. Usually the glands between the lower jawbones become enlarged and undergo suppuration with a rupture of them and free discharge of pus. The temperature of the animal may be slightly or very greatly increased from 103° to 105°. The pulsations may also be considerably quickened. When complications do not occur this disease usually runs its course in two weeks, leaving the animal little the worse for having passed through the affliction.
The milder forms of this disease will need little or no treatment other than careful feeding and nursing. A laxative diet, with something green, if possible, should be given. The colt should be placed in clean, airy, and comfortable quarters, but not in a draft. To hasten the suppuration of the glands a poultice of hot bran or flaxseed may be applied to that region, and as soon as softening can be detected within, puncture the gland containing abscess with a clean knife blade and allow the escape of the collection of pus. During the course of the disease the animal should not be worked and care should be taken that it be not exposed to conditions likely to produce a cold.
=STRINGHALT IN HORSES.=--Stringhalt is an involuntary contraction of the muscles that bring the hind leg or legs forward. The cause of stringhalt is a deranged condition of the nerves supplying the muscles, causing the leg or legs to be brought up with a jerk. In slight cases of stringhalt it is necessary sometimes to turn the animal round from right to left, and from left to right, in order to make him show signs of stringhalt, the symptoms of the disease being exhibited as he turns one way only. This disease sometimes comes on suddenly, but generally develops slowly. It is an unsoundness, and depreciates the animal’s value and makes him unfit for hard work or fast driving. There is no sure cure for stringhalt; the animal can sometimes be relieved by giving him one ounce bromide of potassium at a dose twice a day in bran mash, and continuing it for one week, then skipping a week and giving again. It can sometimes be relieved by cutting the tendon or tendons of the affected muscles, but the operation should be performed by a qualified veterinarian.