Treatment. 291 



Treatment. The first object of treatment is a proper con- 

 sideration of the alfected gastric mucosa in order to protect it 

 against further injury. It is therefore advantageous, particu- 

 larly in overfilling of the stomach, to starve the animals for a 

 few days or to give them very little of an easily digestible food. 

 Herbivora may have a little fresh green feed, bulbous plants, 

 oat straw, thin-fluid salted meal or bran, or oat-meal, barley- 

 meal, linseed-cakes; hogs may be given barley-corn or sago- 

 soup, oat-meal with some fat and salt, scraped meat; valuable 

 dogs may have meat-peptone as a broth in tablespoonful doses, 

 somatose (1-3 teaspoonfuls rubbed up with broth) ; plasmon 

 boiled and added in tablespoonful doses to soups or milk; robo- 

 rat (2-4 tablespoons in feed or soup), tropon (like the former). 

 The ingestion of water must be restricted as much as possible. 

 In ruminants, however, abundant drinking water is frequently 

 beneficial; to stimulate thirst the animals may be permitted to 

 lick salt or they may receive mealy mashes which are strongly 

 salted. 



In overloading of the stomach in hogs and carnivora the 

 use of emetics is indicated. The best drug is hydrochlorate of 

 apomorphine (for dogs 0.005-0.01 gm.; for cats 0.002-0.005 gm.) 

 or veratrine (for hogs 0.003 gm. — injected subcutaneously. Less 

 advisable is the administration per mouth as for instance root 

 of ipecacuanha (for hogs 2-3 gm. ; for dogs 0.5-2.0 gm. or rhiz. 

 veratri albi (0.5-2.0 or 0.05-0.2 gm.). Hogs may also be treated 

 by a rectal injection of the decoctum veratri (2.0 to 50). Fre- 

 quently the introduction of warm water or warm salt solution 

 into the stomach will cause vomiting. 



Washing out of the stomach (gastric lavage), may easily 

 be practiced in carnivora and even in horses and young pigs 

 and it is to be recommended in over-loading of the stomach. 



In horses and cattle one should attempt to empty the stom- 

 ach contents into the intestines by the administration of mild 

 laxatives such as salts, tartar emetic with sulphate of sodium 

 or magnesium (for horses 3.0 to 100.0 grammes; for cattle 4.0- 

 6.0 gm. to 500-800 gm. in two doses). For smaller animals castor 

 oil is indicated (for calves, foals, sheep, goats 50.0-200 gm.; 

 for hogs 30-100 gm., for dogs 15.0-60 gm., for cats 5-20 gm.) or 

 calomel (according to Miiller for dogs 0.3-0.4 gm. ; for cats 

 0.1-0.15 gm.). If there is obstinate vomiting dogs should have 

 cracked ice, water containing bicarbonate of sodium, or cham- 

 pagne, or opium (0.05-0.10 gm.) or other narcotics. 



To remove digestive disturbances, hydrochloric acid is most 

 valuable; it is best added to the drinking water (for horses and 

 cattle 10-20 gm., sheep, calves and hogs 2-5 gm., dogs 0.2-0.5 gm. 

 pro dosi). Very serviceable, particularly in horses, are artifi- 

 cial Carlsbad salt and laxative salts in general (horses up to 

 50-80.0 gm. ; cattle 200.0-250.0 gm. in mucilaginous media) or 

 combined with bitters (gentiana, calamus, rheum, etc.). Smaller 

 animals may receive pepsin (0.1-0.5 gm.) perhaps in combination 



