294 HEALTH AND DISEASE 



Treatment. — While it must be admitted that the recoveries in cases 

 of pronounced enteritis bear but a small proportion to the deaths, we 

 must spare no effort, nor cease to use palliative measures so long as the 

 animal is kept alive. Associated as it invariably is with constipation, 

 it was formerly thought good treatment to administer purgatives. There 

 is a common ground of agreement as to keeping down pain with ano- 

 dynes, and opium or its alkaloids are chosen by most practitioners 

 because the movements of the bowels are best controlled by them. 

 Opium or belladonna in balls or as draughts, or hypodermic solutions of 

 morphia, may be given with advantage. Warm compresses to the abdo- 

 men continuously applied, and enemas of warm water containing a small 

 proportion of glycerine thrown into the rectum now and again, will prove 

 serviceable, as will also small quantities of morphia mixed with lard when 

 inserted into the same channel. An improvement may be noted without 

 any action of the bowels, as they remain in a more or less torpid condition 

 till considerable advance towards recovery is made. It is not advisable 

 during convalescence to give an aperient, but to wait for restored func- 

 tion in the injured portion of the bowel. Soft foods, as bran mashes, 

 pulped carrots, and linseed should be given when the appetite returns, 

 and all dry forage removed beyond the patient's reach, a muzzle being- 

 used, if necessary, to keep him from eating his bed. With regard to 

 bleeding, no rule can be laid down ; it may be advisable in plethoric young 

 horses in hard condition. If it is done at all, it should be in the first 

 stage, for later on it will only add to the depression. Bread scalded with 

 milk and given nearly cold is an excellent food if the sick animal can 

 be got to take it, and a little sugar may be added as an inducement to 

 him to do so, or a sprinkling of salt may be more attractive. 



The intestines after death may be found affected in any portion, small 

 or large, but, as we have already pointed out, the latter are by far the 

 most common seat of the disease; a long piece of the canal may be dis- 

 coloured and swollen, or patches of inflammation, with congested portions 

 occurring between them, may be the form in which the disease exists. In 

 certain forms of enteritis a jelly-like matter between the different layers 

 of the intestine is observed, and the latter may be readily separated with 

 the finger, as their natural cohesion is lost. The mortification which in 

 the majority of cases affects the bowel results in poisoning of the blood, 

 and the septic matter acting on the nerve centres causes death in a very 

 short time. 



