It ought to be superfluous to remark that under such circumstances neither bleeding, purging, nor reducing means of any kind should be adopted, the bowels being merely kept open by bran and occasional linseed mashes, which will assist the mucous surfaces. The chill to be taken off the drink.
Soreness of the Throat frequently accompanies distemper or cold, and is indicated by want of appetite, constant endeavour to swallow the saliva, difficulty in imbibing liquids, which, instead of going down the throat, appear to be returned through the nostrils, noisy gulping, &c.
Rub the throat at once with a mixture of equal parts turpentine and oil, and keep up the irritation on the skin.
Administer 2 drachms of nitre once or twice the first twenty-four hours, the animal being, of course, laid by from all work, and placed in a loose-box; let him be fed on bran and linseed mashes, and given green food, carrots, and anything that will tempt his appetite.
Avoid purging, bleeding, or anything that will lower the system—a rule to be most particularly observed in all diseases of the respiratory organs, unless severe inflammation be present, when a professional man only can judge to what extent the lowering process may be necessary.
Broken Wind is caused by a large number of the air-cells of the lungs becoming fused, as it were, into one large air-cell, thus diminishing the aërating surface, and rendering the lungs weaker. It is indicated by a sudden inspiration and a long, almost double, expiration; the flanks and abdomen are observed to suddenly fall down, instead of being gradually expanded.
Broken wind is, in fact, emphysema of the lung, and there is said to be no absolute cure for it; but it may be alleviated by restricting the animal in hay and water, and giving the latter only in small quantities, not more than half-a-pint at a time, and moistening all food.
Take care he does not eat his bed, which he will make every effort to do. He should have no straw about him in the day, and be muzzled at night.
Lampas does not belong properly to these diseases, indicating some derangement in the alimentary canal, but is here mentioned to guard against a brutal practice commonly resorted to by farriers as a cure for the disorder.
The groom complains that his charge is “off his feed,” and fancies that the palate is swollen more than usual—the fact being that he never examined it at any other time; and the farrier proceeds to cure the rejection of food by searing the poor beast’s mouth with a red-hot iron, or scarifying it with a knife. The reasonable treatment of an ailment proceeding from heat or disorder of the stomach will be to withhold all heating food, at all events to a great extent, giving occasional mashes, also tonics and alteratives, the latter to those of full habit, the former in cases of evident debility.