126 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



system and predispose to this disorder. When a physic is to be 

 given one should rest the horse and give him sloppy food until the 

 medicine begins to operate; clothe the body with a warm blanket; 

 keep out of drafts ; give only warm water in small quantities. After 

 a horse has purged from twelve to twenty-four hours it can mostly 

 be stopped, or set, as horsemen say, by feeding on dry oats and hay. 

 Should the purging continue, however, it is best treated by giving 

 linseed tea and oatmeal or wheat-flour gruel. After this the astrin- 

 gents spoken of for diarrhea may be given. Besides this the horse 

 is to receive brandy in doses of from 2 to 4 ounces, with milk and 

 eggs, four or five times a day. 



DYSENTERY. This disease, sometimes called bloody flux, is an 

 intestinal disease attended with fever, occasional abdominal pains, 

 and fluid discharges mingled with blood. Discharges in dysentery 

 are coffee colored or bloody, liquid, and very offensive in odor, and 

 passed with much straining. It is rare in the horse, but is some- 

 times quite prevalent among foals. 



Causes. Probably the most common cause is keeping young 

 horses in particular for a long time on low, wet, marshy pastures, 

 without other feed (a diarrhea of long standing sometimes termi- 

 nates in dysentery) ; exposure during cold, wet weather; decom- 

 posed foods ; stagnant water that contains large quantities of decom- 

 posing vegetable matter; low, damp, and dark stables, particularly 

 if crowded; the existence of some disease, as tuberculosis of the ab- 

 dominal form. In suckling foals it may come from feeding the 

 dam on irritant foods or from disease of the udder. In other foals 

 it may be produced by exposure to cold and damp, to irritant food, 

 or to worms. 



Symptoms. The initial symptom is a chill, which probably 

 escapes notice in the majority of instances. The discharges are of- 

 fensive and for the most part liquid, although it is common to find 

 lumps of solid fecal matter floating in this liquid portion ; shreds of 

 mucous membrane and blood may be passed, or the evacuations 

 may be muco-purulent ; there is much straining, and, rarely, symp- 

 toms of abdominal pain ; the subject lies down a great deal ; the pulse 

 is quickened and the temperature elevated. Thirst is a prominent 

 symptom. In the adult, death rarely follows under two or three 

 weeks, but in foals the disease may end in death after a few days. 



Treatment. This is most unsatisfactory, and more depend- 

 ence should be placed upon the care and feed than any medication 

 that may be adopted. First of all the horse must be placed in a dry, 

 warm, yet well-ventilated stable; the skin is to receive attention by 

 frequent rubbings of the surface of the body, with blankets, and 

 bandages to the legs. The water must be pure and given in small 

 quantities ; the food, that which is light and easily digested. Medic- 

 inally, give at first a light dose of castor oil, about one-half pint, to 

 which has been added 2 ounces of laudanum. The vegetable or min- 

 eral astringents are also to be given. Starch injections containing 

 laudanum often afford great relief. The strength must be kept up 

 by milk punches, eggs, beef tea, oatmeal gruel, etc. In spite of the 



