162 COMMON DISEASES. 



tie from the normal. The bowels may be normal and the appetite 

 fairly good in mild cases. The skin sensation may be diminished 

 as shown by pricking with a pin. The natural peristaltic action 

 of the intestines may be suppressed, but the bowels will usually 

 vacuate under the influence of an injection or other local irrita- 

 tion. A chronic paralysis affecting one or both hind limbs may be 

 a ver}^ troublesome factor in the case. 



Prevention. — Prevention is simple, easily applied and without 

 expense, and this is the point that should be considered by the 

 farmers, rather than treatment, which is frequently unsatisfactory 

 even when the patient recovers ; moreover, one attack predisposes 

 to others. A horse that has had azoturia once is very apt to have 

 it again, and the second attack is more easily brought on than the 

 first. Preventing the first attack may be the prevention of several 

 attacks and of the final death of the horse. 



There is but slight danger of azoturia for the horse that is 

 thin and weak, for the young colt or for the aged horse, for this 

 disease usually affects the best horse in the barn, one in good flesh 

 and in the prime of life. When such a horse has been working 

 on full feed for a time and must then stand idle for a few days 

 or even twenty-four hours, make a very large reduction in the 

 grain ration or stop all the grain if the horse is quite fat, for a 

 fat horse needs but little grain' when standing idle under any con- 

 ditions, and especially is this true if he has recently been at work. 

 Allow plenty of water and turn out in the yard every day if 

 possible. It would be still better if the horse could be continued 

 at light work. When such a horse has been standing for some 

 time after previous exercise, and the grain has not been reduced 

 oS it should have been, the next best thing is to give a decided 

 cathartic, e. g. a quart of raw linseed oil thirty-six hours before 

 hitching, and then work very moderately the first day, for quick 

 or violent exercise seems more liable to bring on an attack than 

 slow and gentle use. This should be borne in mind when taking 

 any horse out for the first time after a period of idleness. 



Treatment. — These are difiicult cases to treat and tin's part 

 of the ivork should be done by competent veterinarians whenever 

 such are accessible. The treatment of azoturia is frequently 

 tmsatisfactory, even with the most skillful practitioners in charge. 

 The princii)le purpose of this lesson is to direct the attention to 



