Unless the founder be due to excessive purgation, a quart of raw linseed oil should be given as a purgative. During the first 48 hours from 30 to 40 drops of tincture of aconite may be given every three or four hours. Four tablespoonfuls of nitrate of potash (saltpeter) should also be given three times a day in the feed or on the tongue. If the lameness continues after the acute symptoms have subsided, a rest of several weeks on a soft pasture and the application of a blister around the top of the hoof are recommended. The following mixture has been useful as a blister: Red iodide of mercury, 1 part; lard, 4 parts; cerate of cantharides, 4 parts. Apply around the top of the hoof, except at the heels, and rub for 10 to 15 minutes. The animal should be tied so that it cannot get its mouth to the blistered part for several hours after the medicine has been applied.
=CHRONIC FOUNDER.=--In a majority of cases the above treatment will be followed by a good recovery, but an animal once foundered is probably more likely to suffer from a subsequent attack. If the lameness does not entirely disappear in a week or ten days, it is seldom that a complete recovery takes place. In such cases the animal is likely to remain unfit for road work and to continue to show more or less soreness. These are the cases that are later said to have “chest founder,” or “stove up in the shoulder,” owing to the fact that the muscles of the chest waste away from lack of free use.
In some cases still more serious results follow an acute attack of founder. The inflammation may be so severe that there is separation between the hoof and structures, the formation of pus, and a descent of the central organs of the foot, which causes a bulging of the sole. In such cases, even though recovery takes place to such an extent that it is advisable to allow the animal to live, it is not fit for work, and can only be used for breeding purposes.
=GAPES.=--A symptom caused by worms in the windpipe; oftenest seen in young chicks and turkeys. Birds droop, cough, and lower their wings. A feather moistened, but not dripping, with kerosene or oil of turpentine is the commonest remedy. Cleanliness of food, water and quarters is the great preventive. Poultry men who keep their chicks on ground not used for chick raising the previous year, and who insist on strictest cleanliness, report highly satisfactory results in avoiding gapes.