26 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



emia of the brain. In eating the horse will sink his muzzle into the 

 grain in the feed hox and eat for a while without raising the head. 

 Long pauses are made while the food is in the mouth. Sometimes 

 the horse will eat very rapidly for a little while and then slowly ; the 

 jaws may be brought together so forcibly that the teeth gnash. In 

 eating hay the horse will stop at times with hay protruding from the 

 mouth and stand stupidly, as though he has forgotten what he was 

 about. 



In examining the mouth one should first look for swellings or 

 for evidence of abnormal conditions upon the exterior; that is, the 

 front and sides of the face, the jaws, and about the muzzle. By this 

 means wounds, fractures, tumors, abscesses, and disease accompanied 

 by eruptions about the muzzle may be detected. The interior of the 

 mouth is examined by holding the head up and inserting the fingers 

 through the interdental space in such a way as to cause the mouth to 

 open. The mucous membrane should be clean and of a light-pink 

 color, excepting on the back of the tongue, where the color is a yel- 

 lowish gray. As abnormalities of this region, the chief are diffuse 

 inflammation, characterized by redness and catarrhal discharge ; local 

 inflammation, as from eruptions, ulcers, or wounds, and swellings, 

 foreign bodies are sometimes found embedded in the mucous mem- 

 brane lining of the mouth or lodged between the teeth. 



The examination of the pharynx and of the esophagus is made 

 chiefly by pressing upon the skin covering these organs in the region 

 of the throat and along the left side of the neck in the jugular gutter. 

 In examination of the abdomen one should remember that its size 

 depends largely upon the breed, sex, and conformation of the animal, 

 and also upon the manner in which the animal has been fed and the 

 use to which it has been put. A pendulous abdomen may be the 

 result of an abdominal tumor or of an accumulation of fluid in the 

 abdominal cavity ; or, on the other hand, it may merely be an indica- 

 tion of pregnancy, or of the fact that the horse has been fed for a long 

 time on bulky and innutritious food. Pendulous abdomen occurring 

 in a work horse kept on a concentrated diet is an abnormal condition. 

 The abdomen may increase suddenly in volume from accumulation 

 of gas in tympanic colic. The abdomen becomes small and the horse 

 is said to be tucked up from long-continued poor appetite, as in dis- 

 eases of the digestive tract and in fever. This condition also occurs 

 in tetanus from the contraction of the abdominal walls and in diar- 

 rhea from emptiness. 



In applying the ear to the flank, on either the right side or left 

 side, certain bubbling sounds may be heard that are known as peri- 

 staltic sounds, because they are produced by wormlike contraction of 

 the intestines. These sounds are a little louder on the right side than 

 on the left on account of the fact that the large intestines lie in the 

 right flank. Absence of peristaltic sounds is always an indication of 

 disease, and suggests exhaustion or paralysis of the intestines. This 

 may occur in certain kinds of colic and is an unfavorable symptom. 

 Increased sounds are heard where the intestines are contracted more 



