Avoid physic as much as possible. In strangles, purge and kill is the rule. Open the bowels, if it be imperative, by green-meat; if that should not answer, let them alone, however confined they may be. Let the fever rage, but do not potter with one drug and another "to cool" the body.
A BAD CASE OF STRANGLES.
Some horses suffer terribly when they have strangles. The reasons for such a difference have not hitherto been ascertained; but doubtless science will one day discover them. In bad cases the tumor appears under the throat, but it is larger than usual, and longer in maturating than is customary. Tears, frequently mingled with pus, flow from the eyes; a copious discharge runs from the nose; the pendulous lips are disfigured by long bands of thick saliva; the coat is dull, erect, and rusty; the heavy lids close the sight; often the nostrils become dropsical; the breathing is fearful; the tumor presses against the larynx, and a roaring sound is audible at each inspiration.
For this case no more must be done than was directed for the milder form of the disease. The animal may be gently cleansed, but this office must be tenderly performed; for the filth will do far less harm to the horse than the provocation of irritability. Gruel, repeatedly changed, should always be within easy reach of the mouth; the pail should be hung upon a hook, so that the head may not be necessarily raised to reach the nourishment. A little of the sediment, strained from the gruel, should be placed in the manger, as some quadrupeds will only eat; others will only drink; a third class will be content with such nourishment as they can suck up from the more solid form of slops; a fourth may all but starve, yet no coaxing will induce the sufferers to look at aught but the dry, hard food, which they dare not swallow. Most, however, will feed on green-meat, and this should always be at hand. Should the animal become worse, tracheotomy may be necessitated. Then stout and treacle should be liberally horned down—half a pound of treacle being mingled with the quart of stout, and the whole mixed with a quart of good thick gruel. However, give at one time only so much as can be taken without distress being occasioned.
Such cases, bad as they may appear, are not to be despaired of; nor are the tumors, on any account, to be opened before they have thoroughly maturated. Hasty incisions may throw the abscesses back upon the system. When that is the case, real danger is provoked; the horse seldom thrives afterward.
In some instances the tumor will burst internally. It may find egress through the nostrils; but if it burst into the large guttural pouches of the animal, the pus may be there imprisoned until it becomes inspissated, and, by the motion of the jaws, kneaded into numerous distinct masses, resembling small sea-side pebbles. Such has been witnessed, but should hardly now occur; since Professor Varnell, of the Royal Veterinary College, has invented an instrument by means of which these cavities can be effectually injected, and even washed out.
Besides those varieties already mentioned, there is yet another form of strangles: that is, where no tumor appears beneath the jaws, but several form on other parts of the body. The greatest number of abscesses the author has heard of, being developed on one body, is seven. They generally contained about a pint of pus; and, if the direction given for the treatment of strangles be observed, the animal will usually recover upon these being opened.
The great danger of strangles is in the disease fixing upon any internal organ; the horse is of no use afterward. It sinks from bad to worse, till it resembles the illustration appended to "Chronic Indigestion." The best thing which can happen in such a case is the death of the wretched creature. To prevent so lamentable a termination to a generally mild affection, nurse with every possible care, and begrudge no expense which can add to the comfort of the patient.