Diagnosis. Treatment. 409 



Milder cases may be confounded with acute intestinal ca- 

 tarrh or with socalled convulsive colic, and the differentiation 

 may not always be absolutely positive. The occurrence of 

 symptoms of restlessness after errors of diet, after exposure 

 to cold, lively intestinal sounds being audible over the whole of 

 the abdomen, fetid soft feces with poorly digested particles of 

 food point to a catarrhal origin of the colicky pains. If such 

 s}Tiiptoms are not present, however, the differential diagnosis 

 may present great difficulty. The grave forms of mesenteric 

 thrombosis may be mistaken for torsion, volvulus, incarcera- 

 tion, or primary intestinal meteorism. The two former condi- 

 tions may be excluded by rectal examination, aside from a dif- 

 ference in anamnesis of the case, by frequently occurring, often 

 continuous attacks of restlessness and by complete constipation, 

 which usually supervenes very early. Primary bloating de- 

 velops after the ingestion of easily fermenting food and is char- 

 acterized by distension of all of the intestines. (Meteorismus 

 universalis.) Without rectal examination, one may confound 

 the affection with intestinal stenosis or fecal impaction. One 

 should, however, in every case of colic consider those disturb- 

 ances which might be referred to thrombosis of the mesenteric 

 arteries. 



Treatment. Considering the nature of the disease, the ol)- 

 ject of treatment can only be the production of collateral blood 

 circulation or the diminution or removal of the effects of the 

 disturbed circulation. The establishment of a collateral circu- 

 lation should be attempted by walking the animals and by the 

 subcutaneous injection of camphor oil (every two to three hours 

 20 to 50 gm. up to 250 gm. pro die). Catfeine (5 to 10 gm.). 

 Occasionally the intravenous infusion of physiologic salt solu- 

 tion is indicated. In view of the possibility of detaching por- 

 tions of thrombi by increasing the velocity and pressure of cir- 

 culation, and in view of the fact that a collateral circulation is 

 easily established in the milder cases without any assistance 

 from without, this procedure ought to be reserved for the grave 

 cases, in which an additional embolism is a lesser evil than a 

 continuous grave circulatory disturbance. Venesection with 

 bloodletting which is in great favor with French veterinarians 

 can only do harm, since it leads to a decrease of blood pressure. 



Subcutaneous injections of morphine (0.4-0.5 gm.) or rectal 

 injections of chloral hydrate (25-50 gm.) appear indicated in 

 all forms of the disease, first in order to relieve abdominal pain, 

 and second in order to suppress violent peristalsis, to prevent 

 the possible occurrence of intestinal displacement or of rupture 

 of the bowel. Breton recommends in colicky pains intraperi- 

 toneal injection of chloral hydrate 25 to 30 gm. in ten parts of 

 sterile physiologic salt solution, but this procedure can be dis- 

 pensed with and indeed it appears quite objectionable. 



In the mild form one should abstain from the administra- 



