FURUNCULUS (BOILS).
This is an acute affection of the skin, usually involving its whole thickness, characterized by the formation of one or more abscesses, originating generally in a sebaceous gland, sweat gland, or hair follicle. They usually terminate by absorption, or by the formation of a central core, which sloughs out, leaving a deep, round cavity that soon heals.
Causes.—Impoverished state of blood, the result of kidney diseases or of local friction or contusions, with the entrance of pus cocci through the damaged skin or through a hair follicle or a sebaceous gland.
Symptoms.—Boils in cattle usually appear singly, not in clusters; they may attain the size of a hen's egg. The abscess begins as a small round nodule, painful on pressure, gradually increases in size until death of the central portion takes place, then the surface of the skin gives way to internal pressure and the core is released and expelled. Constitutional symptoms are generally absent, unless the boils occur in considerable numbers, or by their size involve a great deal of tissue.
Treatment.—Poulticing to ripen the abscess. If this can not be done, apply camphorated oil two or three times a day until the core is formed. As soon as the central or most prominent part becomes soft, the abscess should be opened to release the core. Then use carbolized cosmoline once a day until the healing is completed. If the animal is in poor condition, give tonics—copperas, gentian, ginger, and sulphur, equal parts by weight, 1 tablespoonful twice a day. If the animal manifests a feverish condition of the system, give half an ounce of saltpeter twice a day, continuing it several days or a week.
FAULTY SECRETIONS AND ABNORMAL GROWTHS OF THE SKIN.
PITYRIASIS (SEBORRHEA, DANDRUFF, OR SCURF).
This is a condition characterized by an excessive secretion of sebaceous matter, forming upon the skin in small crusts or scales.
Causes.—It is ascribable to a functional derangement of the sebaceous glands, usually accompanied with dryness and loss of pliancy of the skin. The animal is hidebound, as it is commonly termed, thin in flesh, inclined to rub, and very frequently lousy. The condition is observed most often toward the spring of the year. Animals that are continually housed, and the skins of which receive no cleaning, generally present a coat filled with fine scales, composed of epithelium from the epidermis and dried sebaceous matter. This, however, is a physiological condition and compatible with perfect health.
Symptoms.—Pityriasis may affect the greater portion of the body, though usually only certain parts are affected—the ears, neck, rump, etc. The skin becomes scurfy, the hairy coat filled with branlike gray or whitish scales.