400 THE PRACTICE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



the gas has all escaped the animal ceases to suffer. A 

 purgative should never be given after this operation. The 

 animal should be placed in a loose box and kept quiet for 

 forty-eight hours or so, fed on proper food, etc., and given 

 tonics, etc., to prevent a return of the disorder. 



ENTERITIS. 



Enteritis is, in the lower animals as well as in man, one 

 of the most serious and fatal of all diseases, and a well- 

 marked case of enteritis in the horse is almost invariably 

 fatal. It consists of inflammation of the bowels. Any 

 one or more of the intestinal coats may be involved, but, 

 as a rule, the inflammation is confined to the inner coat, 

 or at least begins in the mucous coat, and extends to 

 and involves the other coats of the bowel. The large 

 intestines are most frequently involved, although inflamma- 

 tion in connection with the small intestines is by no means 

 uncommon. In some cases only six inches, in other cases 

 eight or ten feet, or a still greater length of bow^el may be 

 involved in the inflammatory process. In many cases 

 where death occurs very quickly after the appearance of 

 the attack, great doubt may justly be felt as to whether 

 a true inflammation existed, the inference being that iti 

 such cases death resulted from intestinal congestion, for 

 the reason that an animal may pass from perfect health 

 to death in a few hours. Hence it is claimed that a true 

 inflammation could not be set up in the healthy parts in 

 such a limited length of time. It is one of the most surely 

 and rapidly fatal diseases to which horseflesh is heir, and, 

 although very common, is by no means as common a disease 

 as it is generally supposed to be. 



Causes. — A great variety of causes operate in the produc- 

 tion of enteritis, and some animals, as, for instance, weak and 



