HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



99 



HORSE, Diabetes. — Diabetes of late 

 years has been much more frequent than 

 was formerly the case, and especially 

 among race-horses and hunters, probably 

 owing to the enormous quantities of corn 

 which they are allowed in the present day. 

 But whatever may be the cause, the symp- 

 toms are clear enough, the horse con- 

 stantly staling and passing large quanti- 

 ties of* urine each time. The treatment 

 should be conducted on the principle that 

 the cause should if possible be ascertain- 

 ed and removed. Mowburnt hay will 

 often bring on diabetes, and new oats 

 have a similar tendency in delicate horses. 

 In any case it is wise to make a total change 

 in the food as far as it can possibly be 

 done. Green meat will often check it at 

 once, and a bran mash containing a few 

 carrots have a similar chance of doing 

 good. With these alterations in the 

 ■quality of the food, attention should also 

 be paid to the quantity of the corn, 

 which should be reduced if more than a 

 peck a day has been given, and beans 

 should be substituted for a part of the 

 oats. Half a drachm of the sulphate of 

 iron (powdered) should be mixed with 

 each feed (that is, four times a day), and 

 the horse should be well clothed and his 

 legs warmly bandaged in a cool and airy 

 (but not cold and draughty) loose box. 

 By attention to these directions the attack 

 may generally be subdued in a few days, 

 but there is always a great tendency to 

 its return. Should it persist in spite of 

 the adoption of the measures already re- 

 commended, the following ball may be 

 tried: 



Take of Gallic Acid - - - % drachm. 

 Opium - - - - I drachm. 

 Treacle and Linseed Meal enough to make a 

 ball, which should be given twice a day. 



HORSE, Haematuria. — Hematuria. 

 like diabetes, is easily recognized by the 

 presence of blood in greater or less quan- 

 tities passed with the urine. It is not, 

 however, of the bright red color natural 

 to pure blood, but it is more or less dingy, 

 and sometimes of a smoky brown color, 

 as occurs in inflammation. Bloody urine, 

 however, may often be passed without 

 any sign of that condition, and therefore 

 unaccompanied by pain, or any other ur- 

 gent symptom. The causes are exceed- 

 ingly various. Sometimes a parasitic 

 "worm {Strongylus gigas) has been discov- 



ered, after death from haematuria, in the 

 kidney, and was apparently the cause of 

 the mischief. At others, this organ has 

 been found disorganized by cancer or 

 melanosis — and again a sharp calculus 

 has been known to bring on consider- 

 able bleeding, and this last cause is by no 

 means infrequent The symptoms are 

 the existence of bloody urine, unaccom- 

 panied by pain or irritation, marking the 

 absence of nephritis. As to treatment, 

 little can be done in severe cases, and 

 mild ones only require rest, a dose of 

 physic, and perhaps the abstraction of 

 three or four quarts of blood. Green 

 food should be given, and the diet should 

 be attended to as for diabetes. If the 

 urine is scanty, yet evidently there is no 

 inflammation, two or three drachms of 

 nitre may be given with the mash at 

 night, but this remedy should be em- 

 ployed with great caution. 



HORSE, Kidneys, Inaction of. — Inac- 

 tion of the kidneys is so common in every 

 stable that the groom seldom thinks it 

 necessary even to inform his master of its 

 occurrence. An ounce of nitre is mixed 

 and given with a bran mash as a matter 

 of course, and- sometimes more violent 

 diuretics are resorted to, such as powder- 

 ed resin and turpentine. Very often the 

 kindeys are only inactive because the horse 

 has not been regurlarly watered, and in 

 those stables where an unlimited supply 

 is allowed this condition is comparatively 

 rare. There is no harm in resorting to 

 nitre occasionally, but if it is often found 

 necessary to employ this drug, the 

 health is sure to suffer, and an altera- 

 tion in the diet should be tried in prefer- 

 ence. At all events, if it is given, the 

 horse should be allowed to drink as much 

 and as often as he likes, without which 

 the stimulus to the kidneys will be doubly 

 prejudicial, from being in too concentrat- 

 ed a form. 



HORSE, Bladder, Diseases of the.— The 

 bladder is subject to inflammation of its 

 coats or neck — to spasm — and to the for- 

 mation of calculi. 



Inflammation of the bladder (cystitis) 

 is not very common, excepting when it is 

 produced by irritants of a mechanical or 

 chemical nature. Thus, when the kidneys 

 secrete a highly irritating urine, the blad- 

 der suffers in its passage, and we have the 

 two organs inflamed at the same time. 



