VETERINARY QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3018, 17 January 1912, Page 59

VETERINARY QUERIES.

[Answered by a duly qualified Veterinary Surgeon. Queries must be received by SATURDAY night to ensure reply in tha succeeding issue.]

Dairyman wants to know what causes cow pox. and if anything can be done to prevent it appearing among a herd. One of liia cows has had deep gashes in the teats for five months, and he asks for a, cure? Answer: In some localities' cow pox appears on all newly-calved heifers on particular farms, in which case it would be well to purify the barn by a thorough disinfection. A mild laxative of Epsom salts at the beginning of the attack is desirable. The teats may be smeared with an ointment formed of on ounce each of spermaceti and almond oil and half a drachm of myrrh. Milking tubes may be necessary to avoid injury by drawing the teats. Anxious writes that a young mare was caught in a barbed wire fence about a fortnight ago. and got her foot badly cut. The out was stitched up. but the stitches broke after they had been on two days, aijd there is now nearlv two inches of bone exposed. The cut lias been dressed twice « dav with carbolic oil. but there is a st'-onT-'-'mfllino- discharge. What treatment should be adopted? Answer: You might wash the wound with a weak solution of J eves' fluid, and afterwards dress the wound with the following lotion: Acet-tlc of lead loz, sulphate cf ' zinc loz, dissolved in a quart bottle full of water. Drc9s night and morning. Feed the mare ocn green feed, or allow her to run out on a level grass paddock until the wound is healed up. Farmer writes that ' from the coronet of one of his mares a Growth has started. It is about 2in in width, and has grown out horizontally from the top of the hoof. It is hard like the hoof. What can bo done in this case? Answer: As the foot of a horse is a very complicated structure, the treatment of your mare's coronet would rpquire to be under the care of a qualified expert, who thoroughly understands the difficulties he has to face, otherwise you might incur a lot of expense, and finally end in disappointment.