The Elephant's Foot is an excellent practical reference for veterinarians and animal keepers who may have occasion to work with elephants. Elephant foot care is not a subject of general interest for veterinary practitioners, but the book is highly readable, and who knows what may be required of you when the circus passes through your area?
The book includes papers from the 1998 North American Conference on Elephant Foot Care and Pathology, plus invited contributions, representing the experiences of 46 authors. The following topics are reviewed in 6 sections: The general context of elephant foot care; approaches to routine foot care; common elephant foot conditions and their treatment; surgical intervention; antibiotic and antiinflammatory dosages for elephants; and conclusions and recommendations.
Foot problems constitute the single most important ailment of captive elephants. Papers provide a general overview of the anatomy of the elephant's foot, the frequency and potential severity of various foot conditions, and consideration of underlying factors that may cause foot problems, including inactivity and inappropriate substrate, sanitation, and nutrition. Tools for foot care are illustrated and discussed. Papers describing methods of foot care are provided by several different facilities, representing various levels of animal contact management, ranging from free contact (circus elephants) to protected contact (elephant cooperates for work performed through a protective barrier). Specific case histories, presented by keepers as well as veterinarians, range from care of minor nail splits and sole abscesses to surgical care of deep infections of bone, soft tissues, or both.
A guide to determining elephantine dosage rates for antibiotics and antiinflammatories provides a useful starting point, but demonstrates the need for more pharmacokinetic research.
This book is not a how-to cookbook so much as a compilation of experiences and observations. It should be considered as a first step toward developing a more scientific approach to better understand the factors that contribute to foot problems in elephants, to establish standards of housing and care that will effectively prevent these problems, and to evaluate various treatment options. The one point that wins unanimous agreement among the authors is that prevention of foot problems is the best medicine.