288 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



In diarrhoea arising from intrinsic causes, general inquiry into the 

 previous health of the animal, or the presence of excessive quantities of 

 biliary matter in the stools, or the discovery of parasites in great num- 

 bers, &c, may be of use in directing the prescriber. In the case of the 

 sucking colt with the first fluid evacuations there will probably be no 

 general signs of illness, but with its continuation he loses his appetite 

 for play, and then for milk, stretches himself at full length on the ground 

 and remains prone for a long time, and at intervals looks round at his 

 flank, raising his head from the ground and allowing it to fall back 

 again with an appearance of extreme languor. Abdominal pain of a 

 more acute kind supervening, he will get up and strike at his abdomen 

 with the hind feet, stand with all four feet close together, frequently 

 evacuating offensive yellow fseces, which after a time escape almost 

 involuntarily, staining the thighs, and if he is confined to a building, 

 the atmosphere is soon rendered sour and unwholesome. If the mare 

 and foal are at grass and in deep pasture, the character of the evacua- 

 tions may escape the notice of the attendant, and not until the foal 

 becomes tucked up in the flank, or dull and listless, does he discover 

 anything amiss. Foals have not so great a power of resistance to diarrhoea 

 as calves, but succumb often in a very few days, with or without inflam- 

 mation supervening. 



Treatment. — When affecting adults, or other than sucking colts, a 

 consideration of the cause will determine the measures to be adopted, 

 which in different cases may be of an almost opposite character, requir- 

 ing in some the use of aperients or gentle laxatives, while astringents 

 may be called for in others. The chilled animal, having suffered from 

 exposure to inclement weather, will be removed to suitable environment, 

 efforts being made to restore the general circulation with stimulants and 

 friction, as hand-rubbing the limbs, pulling the ears, bandaging, clothing, 

 and the provision of a dry bed; such improved circumstances may alone 

 be found to have reduced the severity of the symptoms without the ad- 

 ministration of drugs. The determination of blood to the central organs, 

 which induced diarrhoea, having given place to its proper distribution, as 

 evidenced by increased warmth of the surface and extremities, ameliora- 

 tion of the symptoms will follow in due course. Too early recourse to 

 powerful astringents may lead to an opposite condition, diarrhoea being 

 often a natural method of relieving the body of some deleterious 

 material, and we should be content with astringent foods, as arrow-root 

 and wheaten-flour gruel, with the addition of a little brandy if the 

 pulse continues weak and the extremities cold. Where diarrhoea is 

 traceable to fermented food of a hard and indigestible nature, it may he 



