GASTRITIS. ^ :j93 



the poison has entered the circulation, the stomach of the 

 horse may be emptied and washed out by means of the 

 stomach-pump ; and, in the case of those animals capable of 

 performing the act of vomition, an emetic, as zinc sulphas 

 in solution, should be administered as quickly as pos- 

 sible. 



SPASMODIC COLIC. 



Spasmodic colic is one of the most common of all bowel- 

 diseases of the horse, and is known also as gripes, belly- 

 ache, etc. It consists of spasmodic contraction of the 

 muscular fibres, usually of the small intestines, but occa- 

 sionally of the large intestines. 



Causes. — Spasmodic colic may be caused in many ways, 

 the most common cause of the disease, in all probability, 

 being a sudden change of food, and more especially M'hen 

 the change is from good food, to food of an inferior quality. 

 It also may be caused by allowing the animal to drink 

 large quantities of cold water when overheated and in an 

 exhausted condition, colic being more likely to occur when 

 the animal is exhausted than when he is not. Feeding 

 roots tends to produce colic, carrots being particularly 

 liable to induce an attack, a couple of carrots being quite 

 sufficient to produce a very severe attack of colic in some 

 horses. Sudden alternations of temperature, particularly 

 from heat to cold, tend to produce the disease. The action 

 of cathartic medicines, or any irritant, in connection with 

 the abdominal cavity, may, and frequently does, give rise to 

 severe attacks of colic; hence a purgative of a drastic 

 nature should never be given unless combined with a car- 

 minative, as ginger, gentian, etc. It is a disease seldom 

 fatal, and never of very long duration, but is of exceptional 

 severity during the short period it lasts. In fatal cases the 

 patient dies of exhaustion, and a post-mortem examination 



