Strangles

Strangles is a contagious eruptive disorder peculiar to young horses. It is ushered in by sore throat and cough, a muco-purulent nasal discharge, and the eruption of a swelling in the space between the branches of the lower jaw. In a few days this swelling comes to a head, bursts, and in favourable cases the patient is soon well again. From exposure to cold, poverty, or other causes, the swelling, however, occasionally appears in less favourable situations, as about the glands lying within the shoulder, in those of the groin, or even in those of the mesentery. Such irregular cases are apt to be protracted, accompanied by much weakness, and sometimes prove fatal. Bleeding, physic, and irritant dressings are injurious. Good food and nursing, with fomentations to the throat and steaming of the head, favour the healthier maturation of the swelling. When there is debility, coax the animal to eat by offering him at short intervals small quantities of scalded oats, malt, bran, or green food, and allow him several times daily a pint of sound ale if he will drink it, but do not force it upon him, as the throat is often irritable and the animal might be choked.