Animals much fed on barley or other heating grain are very liable to become affected with mange. Separate all the diseased from the healthy, as the disease is exceedingly contagious. Dress all your diseased cases with the following mixture, which may be rubbed in with a brush or piece of hide with the hair on: Common oil of tar, 1 quart; common spirits of turpentine, 1 quart; fish oil of any kind, or, in the absence of that, native seed oil, 1 quart; powdered brimstone, ½lb.; mix thoroughly in a convenient vessel with a stick. Rub in the mixture every other day for three complete dressings, and on the day after the last, wash well with warm water and plenty of rough soap. 1oz. of gunpowder and ¼oz. of brimstone, rubbed into an ointment with 6oz. of fat, is a good makeshift remedy.
To prevent attacks of mange and other skin diseases in animals kept much on grain, it is well to give occasional doses of the following powder in the food: Common bazaar antimony (the kohl of the dealers) ½lb.; brimstone in powder, 1lb.; nitre, ½lb.; mix: dose ½oz. Strains or severe injuries to joints or tendons, are often benefited in their second stage, that is, after all the benefit arising from fomentations, poultices, &c., has been taken advantage of, by the action of counter-irritation, in the form of a blister. Cantharides, or Spanish flies are commonly used for blistering purposes, but the spotted fly of India (Mylabris cichorii) answers every purpose. Blistering oil, which is useful for sprains or to rub into sore throats, is made as follows: Dried flies, roughly crushed, 1oz.; good clear vegetable oil, 1 pint; spirits of turpentine, 4oz.; mix; place the whole in an earthen chatty pot or jar; put the vessel in warm camp fire ashes for three hours, and then strain for use. Blistering ointment is made by reducing the dry fly to powder, taking care to cover the nostrils during the operation, and mixing 1oz. of the dust to 6oz. of clear fat; stand the pot containing the mixture in the hot ashes for eight hours, and then strain whilst warm through a coarse cloth doubled. Horses when blistered should have cane joint necklaces, or cradles as they are called, fitted on their necks, in order to prevent them from biting the blistered surface. It is generally best to remove the hair before applying the blister. When the skin has been well acted on, the blister may be washed off with warm water and soap, and fat or palm-oil applied in order to allay irritation.
Fly-infested animals, to treat.
Mule leeches, to destroy.
The flies of tropical countries are much to be dreaded when the wounds of animals are under treatment; ova deposited by them arrive at maturity in an incredibly short space of time, when they burrow into the tissues, and cause much trouble to the attendant as well as pain to the animal. The “sheaths” of even healthy horses and mules not unfrequently become charged with a living mass of these carnivorous larvæ, which cause such irritation as to make the suffering animal kick violently up under its belly, and manifest other symptoms of uneasiness; a sharp watch should be kept for these symptoms, and when observed the animal should be at once cast, and the intruders routed out by manual manipulation; warm water and soap will cleanse the part, and a good dressing of oil will allay the irritation. Fly-infested wounds are best dressed with the following ointment: Common verdigris, ground to a very fine powder and sifted, 1oz.; common resin, 1oz.; fat or lard, 10oz.; first melt the fat in an earthen pot, and then stir in the powder; warm for one hour in the ashes, and stir till cold with a stick. There is an oil prepared from a species of Indian gum resin called “diccimaulieh,” which is a valuable addition to the above ointment, as flies appear to entertain a rooted antipathy to it. Flies are not the only pests one has to guard against. Mule leeches, to destroy. Mules, especially those purchased in Spain, are not unfrequently found to have the insides of their mouths, as far back as the roots of their tongues, festooned with huge, bloated, black and green leeches. A number of our Andalusian mules were, on our voyage from Spain to the East, found by our chief muleteer to be so infested. We therefore brought the mules, one by one, to a stout post or stanchion, placed rope hobbles on their feet, and rope halters on their heads; when the head was well secured, a stout rope loop at the end of a stick was used to keep the mouth open, whilst a tow-ended stick, dipped in a strong solution of common salt in sea-water was used to thoroughly wash out the whole cavity of the mouth. The result was most satisfactory; the leeches tumbled helplessly out into the bucket of pickle held for their reception, and ultimately found their way into the sea. Our mules commenced to thrive from the day of our successful pickle hunt, and we never discovered another mule-leech during the expedition.
Teeth, and their irregularities.
Cautions regarding glanders.
Both horses and mules will at times be found to “quid” their food as it is called, that is, to form during the process of mastication irregularly formed balls of partially crushed hay, straw, or grass. The discovery of these pellets should always be followed by an examination of the molar teeth, even should it be found necessary to cast the animal before the examination can be made, as loss of condition too frequently follows quidding. It will generally be found that irregularity of the edges of either the upper or lower rows of teeth have caused the infliction of wounds on the inside surfaces of the cheeks. In other cases, it will be found that from the decay of one or more teeth, those which should meet friction and consequent wear have, in the absence of it, grown to an inordinate and inconvenient length. These irregularities are best corrected by the aid of the tooth rasp, which is readily made by welding a worn out flat rasp to an iron rod about two feet in length. Bend your rasp, when united to the rod and still hot, into the form of a shallow gouge, and shorten it to about six inches; reset the teeth with a sharp punch, retemper, and insert in a common wooden handle for use. When about to purchase either horses or mules, see that the upper row of incisor teeth do not overhang the lower, constituting what is called parrot mouth. Animals so malformed rarely thrive well, from inability to crop their food. Cautions regarding glanders. Always regard with extreme suspicion any animal suffering from a thin, glue-like discharge from either one or both nostrils: look well up the nose, and be perfectly certain that there are no ulcers on the membrane, or perchance you may introduce a glandered subject, which will endanger the lives of both men and animals. Should such appearances as those just described present themselves in an animal after purchase, order it to be instantly destroyed, together with all the woollen or leather equipment belonging to it. The metal can be rendered free from the glander poison by thoroughly heating it in the camp fire, and then throwing it whilst fizzing hot into water. Never attempt to treat a case of even suspected glanders whilst travelling: shooting is the only safe method of relieving the animal from its sufferings. Horses or mules can be readily shot dead with either ball or small shot. To do this instantly, stand on the off-side of the animal, about six feet from and in a line behind the shoulder; aim well below the ear, in a direction from behind forwards, and from below upwards. A charge thus delivered from a gun, rifle, or large heavy pistol—not an insignificant popgun revolver—will strike the creature dead on the spot, and thus save it unnecessary torture.
Hints on horse and mule purchase.
Before quitting the subject of “Veterinary Surgery,” it may be well to caution the intending purchaser against laying out his money in animals affected by cataract. In order to discover whether this defect exists, place the animal with its head just in a line with the two posts of a stable or shed doorway; screen the eye under examination from the direct rays of the sun with your cap or felt hat, look steadily and keenly down into the interior of the eye, and if a cataract is there it will be perceived in a pearl-tinted spot or patch on the crystalline lens of the eye, just as though the bull’s-eye of a miniature lantern had received a mark from French chalk. Clouds on the outer surface of the ball of the eye or cornea are in no way to be confounded with cataract; clouds such as these are caused in a variety of ways—strokes from flexible branches, whip lashes, &c., and generally yield to treatment with as much calomel as will fill an ordinary percussion cap, rubbed up with a half-teaspoonful of honey. Place a piece as large as a No. 4 shot in the affected eye every other day, until the opacity passes away. Cataract, on the other hand, is beyond treatment, and greatly detracts from the value of the animal suffering from it. Bony excrescences round the coronets, constituting ring bone, and slits in the wall of the hoof, called sand-cracks, also detract much from either a horse’s or mule’s value for travelling, and should be carefully looked for. Do not, as a rule, purchase very young horses or mules, as they are far more likely to give trouble and fall sick than those of more matured age; those of from six to ten, or even eleven years old, if sound and in good condition, will do good service.