VOLVULUS. 405 



diffusible stimulants may also be given in conjunction with 

 the opium. If recovery occurs, the animal should be fed on 

 small quantities of easily-digested food, and used carefully 

 for some time. 



VOLVULUS. 



Volvulus is a condition not commonly met with, and 

 consists of a portion of intestine becoming twisted in some 

 w^ay or other. It may be caused by colic, etc., particularly 

 spasmodic colic. It may also be due to the presence of 

 pedunculated mesenteric tumours, which press upon and 

 interfere with the intestines. The ilium is most frequently 

 affected, hence the name * ilius ' is sometimes applied to the 

 condition. Young animals appear to be more liable to an 

 attack, and suffer more frequently than old animals. 



Symptoms. — It is almost impossible to form a correct 

 diagnosis in this trouble. The symptoms are somewhat 

 similar to enteritis, but are not so violent, and are more pro- 

 longed. The pulse may vary from forty-five to one hundred 

 beats per minute. There is also a peculiar sighing, or catch- 

 ing of the breath. The usual symptoms of abdominal disease 

 are present, as pawing, rolling violently, etc., and another 

 symptom is sitting upon the haunches after the manner of a 

 dog ; when this symptom is seen, in forty-eight hours or so 

 from the beginning of the attack, death is almost certain. 



Treatment. — As a rule, treatment is of no avail. How- 

 ever, a case may occasionally be cured, the treatment 

 consisting in the administration of opium to allay pain, in 

 addition to which a dose of olive oil may be given. The 

 animal should be kept perfectly quiet. When it is seen 

 that a case is certain to terminate fatally, the animal 

 should be destroyed to end its suffering. 



