152 CAU8BS, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT OF 



Treatment. — In a recent case this is sometimes easily overcome, but if 

 of long standing it is more difficult. Paint it with collodian and keep 

 very quiet for several days ; give no solid food, and just enough fluid 

 to sustain life. If a case of longer standing, scarify the edges and 

 then bring them together and secure by means of a pin ; then use stimu- 

 lants, or touch the parts with mild caustics. Some object to caustics, 

 but I have seen them prove of benefit. If the means given fail, then 

 endeavour to make a new duct by inserting a small seaton right into the 

 cheek, and keep it there and stimulate with some stimulant until a new 

 duct is formed. 



Salivary Calculi. — Any gland that has a well-marked duct may 

 have calcareous deposits, and we find them in the parotid duct — both in 

 horses and cattle. They may obstruct the duct and set up fistula. The 

 flow of saliva is obstructed to a certain extent, but if the duct is suddenly 

 obstructed, then there is dilatation of the walls, which, perhaps, can be 

 felt. The remedy is to cut down and remove the calculi ; secure the 

 wound with a pin ; keep the animal quiet and give no solid food for 

 several days. 



Ptyalism, or Slavering. — This may proceed from food, and is 

 common in horses and cattle ; it also results from the use of mercury. 

 This shows itself by an immense flov7 of saliva. It may literally run 

 from the mouth, and if it is continued it interferes with digestion. The 

 best remedy is to change the food, and sometimes give a laxative, 

 followed by tonics and stimulants, and use a gargle of alum water. If it 

 is due to mercury, then use mercurial antidotes. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH. 



The Stomach of a horse is small in proportion to the size of the 

 animal, and digesti<- n takes place quickly, and the horse does not suffer 

 so much from indigestion as ruminants or as man does. A horse can 

 undergo pretty severe exertion after a hearty meal without showing any 

 inconvenience. However, the stomach of a horse is liable to derange- 

 ments, and, perhaps, the most serious is acute indigestion, which 

 destroys a great number of horses, and I think I may safely say that at 

 least three-fourths of the heavy Clyde horses that are imported to this 

 country die from this disease, which is brought about by injudicious 

 feeding or carelessness. It is very common in horses that are worked 

 hard and fed well. It is an accumulation of food and gases in the 

 stomach, and also in the intestines, and a fatal result is inflammation of 

 the mucous membrane, called 



Gastro-Enteritis. — A horse may be in good health, become affected 

 and die in twenty-four hours or sooner. 



Causes. — Giving a large amount of food, especially if it is hard to 

 digest ; bran, for example, especially if there is shorts mixed with it and 

 not submitted to the action of hot water for some time. It will produce 

 acute indigestion almost as quickly as any kind of food. If a horse has 

 a full stomach and is put to hard work, digestion does not take place 

 properly, and disease is the result ; or giving a full feed when the stomach 

 is weakened from hard work and as a horse grows old or gets bulky food, 

 the stomach becomes unnaturally dilated, and the walls become very 

 thin, and the gastric juice is not properly secreted ; and after fasting, a 



