The operation finished, the foot is again douched in an antiseptic solution, the wound mopped dry with carbolized tow, dressed with either of the dressings described on page 358, and finally bandaged.  The dressing should be changed every three days only, unless in the meanwhile pawing movements and other symptoms of distress indicate their removal.

The length of coronary cushion removed in this operation is from 1/4 to 1/2 inch (we ourselves, however, have seen it more), and yet its loss seems to occasion no serious after-trouble beyond a slight deformity of the parts beneath.  The sensitive structures become sufficiently covered with horn, and the animal in nearly every case is returned to work, while in a great many instances he may also trot perfectly sound.

Simple though the operation may appear, and apparently rough in its method, it is nevertheless successful in effecting a cure in cases where blisters, plugging, injections, and other means have failed.

Mr. W. Dacre, M.R.C.V.S.,[A] after reading an article on the operation before the members of the Lancashire Veterinary Medical Association, says:  ’My observations have not been based on a single case, and having had nine of them, and all of them successful, I felt it to be my duty to bring this subject before the Society.’

[Footnote A:  Veterinary Record, vol. v., p. 407.]

Mr. T.W.  Thompson, M.R.C.V.S.,[A] says:  ’In a great number of cases I have removed a 1/2 inch of the coronary band....  I have performed the operation a great number of times, and have never seen a foot that has been damaged by it.’

[Footnote A:  Ibid.]

Professor Macqueen[A] says:  ’I do not spare the coronary band or sensitive laminae when I find those parts diseased.  I do not unnecessarily damage those structures.  At the same time, I am confident that excision of a piece of the coronary band or removal of a few sensitive laminae has not the untoward consequences so much dreaded in former days.’

[Footnote A:  Ibid., p. 714.]

Mr. John Davidson, M.E.C.V.S.,[A] says:  ’The treatment described, if carefully carried out and details attended to, will be found a success in dealing with the majority of cases of quittor.  If I may be permitted to say so, without being considered boastful, I have yet to see the first case that has resisted the treatment.’

[Footnote A:  Ibid., vol. xiv., p. 769.]

Should our case of quittor be complicated by caries of the bone, this must, where possible, be scraped or curetted until the whole of the diseased portion is removed, and a healthy surface is left.  After-dressing must then be carried out as in other cases.

The treatment of ossified cartilage will be found under treatment of side-bones, and the methods of dealing with penetrated articulation and purulent arthritis are treated of in Chapter XII.

Surgical Shoeing in Quittor.—­In the case of simple or cutaneous quittor, no alteration in the shoeing is necessary.