The joints attacked may be blistered, but it is often preferable to use mild ointments, containing camphor or belladonna, because, as soon as pain diminishes, moderate massage of the affected parts, which favours rapid absorption of the effusions, can then at once be resorted to. The diet should consist of easily digested food and of lukewarm hay tea, etc. When the animals are suffering from kidney disease in any form salicylate of soda is contra-indicated.
Antipyrin may also be of service in doses of 45 to 75 grains for bovines and 15 grains for sheep. Preparations of methyl salicylate can only be used for animals of value.
MUSCULAR RHEUMATISM.
Muscular rheumatism is due to causes similar to those of articular rheumatism. The symptoms, moreover, often occur simultaneously, or may alternate with the articular manifestations, with which they are seldom entirely unconnected.
Moist cold seems to be the predetermining cause, whether it acts indirectly on the nerve trunks or affects the capillary circulation in the muscles, through the medium of the vaso-motor supply. The results are revealed by the development of neuralgia, neuritis or interstitial myositis; and these diseases, by producing more or less intense pain, cause difficulty in movement or distinct lameness. Attempts have been made to explain the development of these lesions by ascribing a certain action to the uric acid (which is said to be in excess in the body), and to the lactic acid, which accumulates in the muscular tissue after fatigue or over-exertion, and may occasionally produce temporary myositis. Up to the present time, no satisfactory proof has been furnished enabling us to identify the myositis of rheumatism with the myositis of over-exertion, which, moreover, appears to differ from it in essential particulars.
Symptoms. Muscular rheumatism is often ill-recognised in veterinary medicine, and closer observation would appear to suggest that it is much less frequent than has been stated. Generalised muscular rheumatism is rare; patients stand stiffly as though incapable of moving; the limbs and the back appear rigid, and the animal seems only capable of changing its position by a single movement of its whole body. One might readily believe at first sight that the case was one of generalised laminitis or slight generalised tetanus. The animal has difficulty in rising; when moving the limbs are dragged, and the patient is cautious in lying down.
Most frequently the disease is localised in one region, such as the shoulder, the loins, or the quarters. The affected part is stiff, tense, painful, hard, and as though in a state of cramp. Palpation and pressure reveal the presence of very exaggerated sensibility, which varies within wide limits, according to circumstances, changes in atmospheric conditions, etc. These local signs are accompanied by a general reaction of varying severity, somewhat resembling that seen in articular rheumatism. Appetite is diminished or suppressed, as is rumination; the muzzle is dry and hot; the temperature may rise as high as 103° or 104° Fahr.
Lesions. The lesions are imperfectly recognised, because those who might most easily observe and study them have often neither the means nor the leisure for the purpose. Possibly one would at times discover lesions of neuritis; but in any case it is not so very rare to discover lesions of interstitial sclerosing myositis in the depths of the muscles of the quarter, loins, shoulders, etc., a condition rarely found in any other disease. Naturally these are only the ultimate lesions of muscular rheumatism; for slight attacks leave no traces visible to external examination.
Diagnosis. The commonest error is that of mistaking the condition for laminitis of all four limbs. The history often suffices to eliminate this disease from consideration, while palpation and percussion of the claws remove any remaining doubt.
The prognosis is not usually grave, and recovery sometimes follows the adoption of good hygienic conditions. On the other hand, certain patients lose flesh rapidly.