[Illustration:  Fig. 60—­“Capped hock.”  Distension of the bursa over the summit of the os calcis.]

Treatment.—­In acute inflammation, antiphlogistic applications are indicated and the subject must be kept quiet.  The matter of bandaging the hock is a difficult problem in some cases and needs be done with care.  As has been previously stated in this volume, the tarsus needs to be well padded with cotton before the bandages are applied and only a moderate degree of tension is employed in applying the bandages lest anemic-necrosis result from pressure.  In distension of the superficial bursa, after clipping the hair over a liberal area and preparing the skin by thoroughly cleansing and painting with tincture of iodin, the capsule is incised with a bistoury.  An incision about an inch in length, situated low enough to provide drainage, is made through the tissues and the contents are evacuated.  Tincture of iodin is injected into the cavity and the parts are covered with cotton and bandaged.  No after-care is necessary except to retain the dressing in position, which is not difficult in the average case if the subject is kept tied.  If much resistance is exhibited, such as extreme flexion of the bandaged hock, the animal may be put in a sling and little if any objection to the bandage will be offered thereafter.  The wound may be dressed at the end of forty-eight hours and no redressing will be necessary in the average instance if infection is not present.  But slight local disturbance and little distress to the subject result in cases so treated even when infection occurs, but a good technic is possible of execution in most instances and no infection should take place.

The surgical wound heals in two or three weeks and inflammation gradually subsides.  Bandages are retained one or two weeks, as the case may require, and subsequently a good wound lotion may be employed several times daily.  A good lotion for such cases as well as in many others has long been employed with success by Dr. A. Trickett of Kansas City.  It consists of approximately equal parts of glycerin, alcohol and distilled extract of witch hazel, to which is added liquor cresolis compositus, two percent, and coloring matter q.s.

Complete resolution does not occur in the average case.  There remains some hyperplastic tissue and even where the enlargement is slight, the prominent situation of the affection precludes its being unnoticed.

In disease of the flexor tendon and its bursa where contiguous inflammation of tissue is present, the parts are blistered or fired.  Line firing is beneficial in such instances but in all cases the cause is to be removed if possible.

Rupture and Division of the Long Digital Extensor
(Extensor Pedis).

Etiology and Occurrence.—­Because of the fact that the long digital extensor is the only extensor of the phalanges of the pelvic limb, its rupture or division constitutes a troublesome condition, which in some cases does not readily respond to treatment.