Stabling and Food.—In all cases of serious disease of the lungs or air-passages, the horse should be placed in a large, roomy stable or stall, into which the fresh air may freely come, but all damp draughts of air excluded; all dung, damp and dirty straw carefully removed; spread clean straw on the floor; blanket him according to the season, the state of the weather, and skin; hand-rub and flannel bandage the legs every night and morning, or oftener if necessary.
For food, bran mashes, gruel, and tempered water only; when recovering, malt or bran mashes, boiled oats, turnips, carrots, and green food, if in season.
Inflammation of the Larynx, Laryngitis
The larynx is the upper portion of the windpipe, and inflammation of it sometimes occurs and is very dangerous. It is not often unmixed, but is generally accompanied with, or is an extension of, cold or bronchitis, and its causes are the same.
It is sometimes a dangerous disease, and may kill by suffocation or degenerate into bronchitis, or pneumonia. It is recognized by the difficulty of respiration, WHICH IS LOUD AND HEARD AT A DISTANCE.
The outside of the throat is hot, painful and swelled; swallowing is sometimes difficult, and the fluid even may return by the nose; the breathing is short and difficult, and when the air is drawn into the lungs, a rough, harsh sound is heard in the larynx; the cough, at first short and hard, becomes more hoarse and feeble, and occurs in fits, especially during an attempt to swallow; the pulse is quick, hard and full, and skin hot. As the disease advances the breathing becomes more difficult, and is attended with a rasping, crowing sound, the neck is straightened and held stiffly, the head raised and larynx drawn towards the breast, the nostrils are widened, the nose lead colored, the eyes red, skin damp with sweat, the pulse becomes weak and irregular, and at last from the increasing narrowness of the windpipe, the horse actually dies for want of breath.
Treatment.—The treatment is by no means difficult or complicated. Give fifteen drops of A.A., every hour, during the violence of the disease, and until the difficult breathing has abated and the animal becomes comparatively easy. Then the intervals may be prolonged to two and then to three hours, or more, until entire relief is obtained. If a cough remains, the E.E. may be given in alternation, with the A.A.
Should the windpipe be very sore to the touch outside, it may be occasionally bathed with Humphreys’ Marvel Witch Hazel with advantage.
Nasal Gleet
This is the term applied to an old, long standing, running from the nose. It arises from a morbid condition of the lining membrane of the nose, and is often the result of a badly treated or neglected cold, especially in old, worn out horses, and is similar to catarrh in the human species. Sometimes a diseased tooth in the upper jaw may give rise to a similar discharge, but this is not a true gleet. An almost incredible quantity of thickened mucous of different colors sometimes passes, if the horse is at grass, almost as green as the food on which he lives; or if he be stabled, white, straw-colored, brown, or even bloody, and sometimes evidently mingled with matter or pus; and either constantly running, or snorted out in masses many times in the day. Sometimes the discharge comes only from one nostril, at other times both nostrils are affected; in some cases the glands under the jaw are enlarged, in other cases no enlargement can be discovered; perhaps after the discharge has been very copious for some time it suddenly stops, and the animal remains free from any discharge for several weeks, when it comes on again as bad as ever; generally speaking, exercise increases the discharge. Horses affected with this disease have been known to continue free from any discharge for six or eight weeks, whilst they have continued to rest; they have been taken to work, and in a day or two the discharge has returned as bad as before.