INVALID FOOD 25 



been artificially heated. Horses will seldom drink water that approaches 

 the temperature of the animal body, and when the word " warm" is 

 mentioned, a temperature of about 80° Fahr. is understood. 



INVALID FOOD 



One of the most important duties, and probably the least understood 

 by the average groom, is the preparation of food out of the usual routine. 

 As with human patients, so with horses, recovery may be often said to 

 date from the first tempting meal the sufferer can be induced to eat. 

 It is a matter of common knowledge that horses in health are often 

 fastidious about food, and will reject it when offered in a bucket or other 

 vehicle that is not perfectly clean; much more is this the case in sickness, 

 and we have too often seen cooked food offered that has been burned 

 or otherwise spoilt in the preparation. The invalid should be tempted 

 by variety, no great quantity offered at one time, and what is left should 

 be scrupulously removed before the patient has " blown" over it and 

 become disgusted. 



Where no food whatever is voluntarily taken it is sometimes necessary 

 to introduce aliment in other ways, as by drench and enemata, and this 

 should be done as quietly and gently as possible; a golden rule, to be 

 observed in all dealings with sick horses, as unnecessary noise and excite- 

 ment is at all times prejudicial to an animal so highly nervous as the 

 horse. 



The food used for sick horses should always be of a nourishing or 

 sustaining character, and in some instances it is an advantage if it pos- 

 sesses laxative properties. 



In the first class we include eggs, milk, biscuits, bread, meals, beef- 

 tea, and the popular forms of alcohol, as wine, spirits, and malt liquors. 

 Some of these the patient may be induced to take voluntarily, and others 

 will have to be given with more or less coercion. In the second class 

 are included some foods that are of nutritive value, but whose chief 

 characteristic is their effect in keeping the bowels in a lax condition 

 and reducing the tendency to constipation and fever. 



Eggs and milk are frequently given together, by whipping both the 

 yolks and the whites, and adding the milk gradually. If the patient 

 can be induced to drink such sustaining and easily assimilated food, it 

 may be mixed in the proportion of half-a-dozen eggs to a gallon of new 

 milk, but some horses will be found to take separated or skim milk 

 though refusing the " whole". If it has of necessity to be given in the 

 form of a drench, it is desirable to reduce the bulk and give as much as 



