220 MANUAL OF EQUINE MEDICINE. 



In plethoric horses with very little work, a small 

 amount of exercise will often bring on an attack of 

 diarrhoea. 



Symptoms. — The fseces are semi-fluid, and either foetid 

 or without offensive odour. If the diarrhoea continues 

 long unchecked, the animal loses flesh and the aj)petite 

 fails. 



In some instances, there is great prostration, abdominal 

 pain is not uncommon, and the respirations become accele- 

 rated. Unless the nausea and pain be very marked, the 

 pulse is not usually quickened. The special symptoms 

 induced by the presence of parasites, among which the 

 strongylus tetracanthus, a small nematode found chiefly in 

 the csecum and colon, is especially liable to cause diar- 

 rhoea, will be considered in the chapter on parasites. 



Etiology, Symptoms, and Pathological Lesions of 

 Diarrhoea in the Young. — In the young, diarrhoea in 

 many instances differs from that of the adult, and has 

 special characteristic features of its own. 



The form of diarrhoea to which we refer is a specific 

 intestinal catarrh, which though not contagious in foals, as 

 it is probably in the bovine species, is nevertheless a far 

 more serious affection than ordinary diarrhoea of the 

 adult. 



It owes its origin to defective sanitary arrangements, 

 and also to changes in the quality of the milk. Such 

 changes are traceable in some instances to the fact that the 

 mare is worked hard during the day, and returns at night 

 to her foal, which after its fast during the day is apt to take 

 more milk than it can well digest. 



The symptoms of this infantile diarrhoea usually appear 

 during the first two or three weeks of life. The faeces at 

 first are of a yellowish white colour, and there is little or no 

 pain. In more advanced stages, or from the first in the 



