If the swelling remains, apply twice each month a salve made by using one teaspoonful of biniodide of mercury and three tablespoonfuls of lard. Wash occasionally, using the chloride of zinc solution.
Leg Wounds.
—Cleanse the wound with a wash composed of one tablespoonful of acetate of lead, one tablespoonful of sulphate of zinc, four tablespoonfuls of tincture of arnica and one quart of water. Use this wash frequently, every hour or so, during the first day. After that three or four applications will be sufficient. The sore should be kept lower than the skin during the healing process. If it tends to crowd up, apply a tiny bit—as much as you can place on a one-cent piece—of bichloride of mercury. This will assist in getting an even heal and the skin will grow over, leaving no blemish or swelling.
Maggots in Wounds.
—If the wound has been treated as suggested above there is no possibility of any trouble from maggots. These come from a lack of cleanliness and neglect. Of course, an animal often gets a wound and the owner is not aware of the mishap. Wounds, more or less infrequently treated, those made as the result of castration, occasionally get infected with maggots.
When, for any cause, maggots are present, they must be got rid of at once. A good plan is to use chloroform, either by spraying or by throwing it in the wound in small drops from a sponge.
The danger from maggots can usually be avoided if a mixture composed of one tablespoonful of turpentine, three tablespoonfuls of tar and two tablespoonfuls of lard or fish oil be smeared all around the border of the wound.
CHAPTER VI
Making a Post Mortem Examination
Even on the best-managed stock farms some animals do get sick and die. Good care and good nursing may be given, but the sick animal frequently does not recover—death often follows very quickly, before you have an opportunity to observe the development of the disease or to secure the services of a veterinarian. Then, again, after a lingering sickness an animal dies, the disease being known or unknown as the case may be.