9
The affected camel becomes very weak from low fever and constant pain
and deaths from this form of Kapali are often reported.
The native treatment is firing and is useless.
In two cases blindness of the eye on the affected side was seen, from
retro-bulbar paralysis due to the original injury.
44. Treatment.—Is by trephining. It is best to avoid the supraorbital
canal, and this can be done by using a ¾ inch trephine in such a position that
its front edge would touch a line drawn from one nasal canthus to the other,
whilst its outer edge is ½ inch from the bony edge of the orbit. If pus is
not then found, the partitions in the sinus can be broken down with a chisel,
which however, mast be applied as near to the roof of the cavity as possible.
The subsequent treatment resembles that in equine cases and by tilting,
the head towards the opposite side the injections can be made to pass out
from the nostrils. Drainage, however, is difficult to obtain and this necessitates
dressing twice daily ; in the day time the opening has to be plugged to prevent
maggots. The amount of time required to get the sinus healthy and to
allow complete healing of the trephine wound averaged 31 days.
In two cases in which blindness was present in one eye, the blindness
remained permanently.
BITES.
45. Musth camels inflict severe injuries on each other when fighting,
causing troublesome and often fatal wounds sometimes opening tendon-
sheaths or tearing open the scrotum. The dressing of wounds inflicted
by bites was once a sort of routine in my Sohawa camels and took up a good
deal of time. Nearly all these injuries are caused by camels of 8 years or
upwards whose tushes, especially the upper ones, are most formidable weapons.
46. By a very simple measure these injuries may be prevented and
much time, trouble and drugs are saved ; this consists in rounding off the
tushes of any camels showing pugnacious or quarrelsome tendencies, so that
if they fight they do very little damage.
In fullgrown tushes not more than ¼ inch should be removed ; a horizontal
notch being made at this distance from the point to allow the saw to "bite,"
the piece is sawn off and the end of the remaining part is thoroughly rounded
off with a toothrasp. When the tushes are a little worn, leaving sharp edges,
the toothrasp is the only instrument necessary.
The four tushes can thus be blunted in a few minutes by either method.
It must not be forgotten that the blunted tushes may make the camel
appear older than he really is to a purchaser on a superficial examination ;
but where this objection does not apply, I strongly recommend this opera-
tion.
The blunting of the tushes makes no difference to the animals' grazing ;
it will be remembered that dachis' tushes are rudimentary.
Corps camels with bad characters have also been treated in this way with
the owners' consent and satisfaction.
SPECIAL POINTS IN CONNECTION WITH THE OBSERVATION OP CAMELS
IN SICKNESS.
47. Fevers.—The peculiarities of the temperature in the camel have been
dealt with in a former article (Journal of Tropical Veterinary Science,
Volume 4, page 300), the maximum limit for health being about 99° or 99.5°F.
before 10 A. M. or 102° F at 6 or 7 P.M.
The pulse is conveniently felt at the posterior tibial artery as described
in the same article.
In the camel, besides the symptoms of fever common to most ruminants,
when unaccompanied by pain, the head and neck droop forward, and the
animal stands or sits with half-closed eyes and with no movement of the tail.
When sitting, the head is rested on the ground more than is the case in the
healthy animal, and he allows flies to settle on him in large numbers.
48. Browsing necessitates a certain amount of effort and exercise and
a camel that is too ill to graze will often eat rations fairly well. Camels
that are used to gram must be very sick indeed before they will refuse it ;
and it does not follow that a patient which shows eagerness for his gram is
doiug well.
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