Canker

Canker is a malignant disease of the horse's foot, which is sometimes hereditary, and affects certain localities more than others. It usually attacks horses which have large fleshy-looking frogs, and commences by discharge from the heels or the cleft of the frog. The horn becomes soft and disintegrated, the vascular structures beneath become inflamed, and the pain which the animal endures is sometimes intolerable. It is therefore very lame on one, two, or all feet, according to the number affected. Though there is no constitutional fever, the horse becomes emaciated and unfit for work. During wet weather, and on damp soil, the symptoms increase in severity. The sore structures bleed on the least touch, and considerable fungoid granulations, commonly called proud flesh, form rapidly, and there is a continuous discharge of a whitish-coloured fluid, which has an offensive smell. This disease is occasionally hereditary, and it is most frequently seen in lowbred draught or coach horses, though it also, with too much frequency, affects thoroughbred Clydesdale and other stallions. Dirt, cold, and wet favour the production of the disease, and there is always a tendency to relapse when once an animal has been affected. By way of treatment, pare away detached portions of horn, and, in mild cases, sprinkle powdered acetate of copper over the sore; apply over this pledgets of tow, fixed over the foot by strips of iron or wood passed between shoe and foot. In severe cases, tar and nitric acid, creosote and turpentine, chloride of zinc paste, and other active caustics, have to be used for a time with the regular employment of pressure on the diseased surface. The animal requires to be treated constitutionally by periodical purgatives and alternatives. Good food, fresh air, and exercise often aid much in the treatment of the disease. Unfortunately, many cases, though subjected to every possible treatment, become worse and worse. The disease spreads under the sole of the foot, and causes such great pain and lameness that the animal dies. Other cases again do not get better, though the inflammation subsides, but remain at a standstill; and such horses, if the canker is carefully dressed daily, may do slow work for a year or two.