CATHARTICS FOB CATTLE, SHEEP, AND DOGS 111 



hours. Without this desirable preliminary preparation, 

 purgation seldom occurs within eighteen or twenty hours. 

 In acute febrile cases absorption is usually tardy, and the 

 action of the purgative is hastened by combination with a 

 small dose of calomel, nux vomica, or tartar emetic. A 

 horse should never have purgative medicine when his 

 strength is reduced as in the advanced stages of inflamma- 

 tory disease of the air-passages, in influenza and other 

 debilitating epizootics, and seldom when the bowels are con- 

 gested or inflamed. Horses affected by bronchitis may die 

 from superpurgation, induced by three or four drachms 

 of aloes ; and similar susceptibility to the action of moderate 

 doses may also be observed in influenza, purpura haemor- 

 rhagica, and laminitis. 



In cattle and sheep the magnitude of the quadrisected 

 stomach, the large amount of food which it always contains, 

 the relatively small size of the true digestive compartment, 

 and, compared with the horse, the greater length but smaller 

 capacity of the intestines, explain the tardy, uncertain 

 action of purgatives and some other drugs. For these 

 ruminants saline cathartics are preferable, and their action is 

 materially hastened by encouraging the drinking of water, 

 rendered palatable by sweetening it with treacle. In 

 obstinate constipation, or torpidity of the bowels, gamboge, 

 croton, and calomel are often useful. Purgation may usually 

 be produced in cattle in twelve to sixteen hours ; but cases 

 frequently occur where, in spite of treatment, the bowels 

 remain unmoved for several days. The best purgatives for 

 sheep are common and Epsom salts and castor oil, in doses 

 of about one-fourth of those given to cattle. Calomel and 

 croton are apt to act too violently. As sheep drink sparingly 

 their medicine should be given with a liberal quantity of 

 fluid. 



The dog, on account of his small stomach and short 

 alimentary tube, and the concentrated nature of his food, is 

 peculiarly susceptible to the action of purgatives. Jalap, 

 with a little calomel or a mixture of equal parts of syrup 

 of buckthorn and castor oil, is most generally approved of, 

 and usually operates in from five to eight hours. Aloes acts 

 more slowly and uncertainly, while saline medicines are 



