408 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
innutritious food, defiiciency of intestinal secretions, scanty water sup- 
ply, or lack of exercise. If the case is not complicated with colicky symp- 
toms, a change to light, sloppy diet, linseed gruel or tea, with' plenty of 
exercise, is all that is required. If colic exists, a cathartic is needed. In 
very many instances the constipated condition of the bowels is due to 
lack of intestinal secretions, and when so due, may be treated by giving 
fluid extract of belladonna three times a day in 2 dram doses, and hand- 
ful doses daily of Epsom salts in the feed. It is always best, when pos- 
sible, to overcome this trouble by a change of diet rather than by the 
use of medicines. For the relief of constipation such succulent foods as 
roots, grass, or green forage are recommended. Silage, however, should 
be fed sparingly, and not at all unless it is in the very best condition. 
Moldy silage may cause fatal disease. 
Foreign Bodies (Calculi [stones] in the stomach. — There are probably 
but few symptoms exhibited by the horse that will lead one to suspect 
the presence of gastric calculi, and possibly none by w^hich we can unmis- 
takably assert their presence. Stones in the stomach have been most 
frequently found in millers' horses fed sweepings from the mill, A 
depraved and capricious appetite is common in horses that have a stone 
forming in their stomach. There is a disposition to eat the woodwork 
of the stable, earth, and, in fact, almost any substance within their 
reach. This symptom must not, however, be considered as pathogno- 
monic, since it is observed when calculi are not present. Occasional 
colics may result from these "stomach stones," and when these lodge at 
the outlet of the stomach they may give rise to symptoms of engorged 
stomach, already described. There is, of course, no treatment that will 
prove effective. Give remedies to move the bowels, to relieve pain, and 
to combat inflammation. 
Intestinal Concretions (calculi [stones] in the intestines). — These con- 
cretions are usually found in the large bowels, though they are occasion- 
ally met with in the small intestines. They are of various sizes, weigh- 
ing from 1 ounce to 25 pounds; they may be single or multiple, and differ 
in composition and appearance, some being soft (composed mostly of 
animal or vegetable matter), while others are porous, or honeycombed 
(consisting of animal and mineral matter), and others are entirely hard 
and stonelike. The hair balls, so common to the stomach and intestines 
of cattle, are very rare in the horse. Intestinal calculi form around 
some foreign body, as a rule — a nail or piece of wood — whose shape they 
may assume to a certain extent. Layers are arranged concentrically 
around such nucleus until the sizes above spoken of are attained. These 
stones are also often found in millers' horses, as well as in horses in 
limestone districts, where the water is .hard. When the calculi attain a 
sufficient size and become lodged or blocked in some part of the intes- 
tines, they cause obstruction, inflammation of the bowels, colicky symp- 
toms, and death. There are no certain signs or symptoms that reveal 
them. Recurring colics of the type of impaction colic, but more severe, 
may lead one to suspect the existence of this coadition. Examination 
through the rectum may reveal the calculus. 
