DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANlMXLt. 157 



any other disease. Flatulent colic may terminate in enteritis, but it is 

 more likely to terminate in rupture, or it may terminate in death by 

 asphyxia. It is good in some cases to prevent the animal from throwing 

 himself too violently, and I only recommend puncturing when the ani- 

 mal is considerably inflated. If he is not inflated you may injure the 

 coats of the colon or ccecum. 



Enteritis is perhaps more common in the horse than in any other 

 animal, and also more fatal. It is inflammation of the intestines, and 

 inflammation used without any particular application is a very vague 

 term. The coats of the intestines are three — a mucous, a muscular and 

 serous ; and enteritis, in most cases, is inflammation of the mucous coat, 

 but in many cases all the coats are involved. Some writers say it is con- 

 fined to the muscular coat without the mucous coat being affected. But 

 in some cases, as soon as you cut into the abdomen you can see a great 

 change has taken place, both in the muscular and serous coats ; and in 

 other cases you can only notice a slightl}' reddened condition until you 

 have cut through the muscular coat, and then the mucous coat is found 

 to be aftected. It is a very painful and alarming disease, which will run 

 its course quickly, causing death in six or eight hours, and does not often 

 linger more than from ten to twenty hours. It attacks the large oftener 

 than the small intestines, but if it supervenes acute indigestion it may 

 involve almost the whole of the intestines, and in other cases only a part 

 or the whole of the colon. 



Causes. — Colic occasionally produces it, although some writers say it 

 does not. It arises from an over- accumulation of feces in the intestines, 

 or eating some food to which the animal is not accustomed— some hard 

 body, clay, anything that would irritate the intestines. Pea straw is a 

 common cause in some places. It may also cause colic. Purgatives in- 

 cautiously administered in certain diseases may cause enteritis, and when 

 croton oil was combined with almost every purgative enteritis was more 

 common. And I may just say that the less you use croton oil in practice 

 the better. In other cases it comes from drinking stagnant, putrid 

 water. I think this is a common cause in some places. Exposure to the 

 cold, especially after a long and exhausting drive, and then standing in 

 the cold ; or it may come from calculi intussusception, volvulus, etc., 

 and may supervene certain diseases, as strangles, pneumonia, etc., from 

 a weakened condition of the system. 



Symptoms. — Somewhat similar to colic and other painful bowel 

 troubles, but in some cases it is preceded by dullness, especially if it is 

 the result of faulty feeding. The first symptom often noticed is, pawing, 

 first with one foot and then with the other foot, and he may do this for 

 an hour or an hour and a half ; he may turn the head to the side, then 

 cringe some, and again look at the side. This is also symptomatic of 

 colic, but if it continues for an hour or two, and then lies down, it is 

 symptomatic of enteritis : by and by the pain becomes more violent. 

 Early in the disease the pulse is not much disturbed, but is slightly 

 accelerated — perhaps forty, forty-two, or even forty-five per minute ; and 

 it is at the same time full and bounding ; the mouth hotter than natural ; 

 the ears and legs hotter than usual, etc., it is symptomatic of enteritis, 

 and sometimes rigours is the beginning of the disease ; the coat is staring, 

 the same as in congestion of the lungs, but the breathing is not so quick ; 

 the pain increases ; he begins to move the limbs, cringes and lies down 

 more carefully than in colie ; tries to balance upon the back ; gets upon 

 his feet, and instead of standing still, as in spasmodic colic, he turns 

 around, goes around two or three times, cringes and lies down. But if 



