ACUTE INDIGESTION 26» 



Causes. — Acute indigestion is recognized by veterinarians as a result 

 of the stomach being gorged or over-crammed with food. In this affection 

 the organ becomes unduly enlarged or distended; its walls are consequently 

 paralysed and incapable of contracting on their contents. The food, there- 

 fore, becomes stagnant, and instead of being digested and passed on in the 

 ordinary way, remains to decompose and further distend the organ with 

 gas. Such a condition is in the highest degree dangerous, and frequently 

 ends in rupture and speedy death. 



Stomach engorgement or paralysis almost invariably follows upon long 

 fasting, and especially when, in addition, the victim is worn down by 



Fig. 98.— Sleepy Staggers 



fatigue. In this state the stomach shares in the general depression and 

 exhaustion, and suffers at the same time by any unreasonable demand that 

 may be made on its powers. Horses are provoked by long fasting to eat 

 to excess, and the mischief is considerably augmented by the imperfect 

 chewing which the food at these times often undergoes. 



The practice of allowing hungry horses an unmeasured quantity of 

 cooked food is one not to be encouraged. Given in a small amount 

 preliminary to the usual feed it is incapable of harm, but when supplied 

 in large rations it not infrequently becomes a means of fatal engorgement 

 of the stomach. This disease is also observed to follow when horses by 

 accident gain access to certain kinds of grain, as wheat, barley, and maize. 



Symptoms. — It is impossible to say at the outset of an attack of 

 stomach engorgement what particular group of symptoms will arise in the 

 course of the disease. This will most likely depend on the degree of 



