528 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



The disease very often ends fatally, and with rapidity^ 

 Towards the close, the animal's extremities become very cold ;: 

 the pulse, which before was quick and small and wiry, is now 

 almost imperceptible, the temperature falls rapidly, the animal 

 becomes unconscious, and, with many moanings, falls down to 

 the ground and dies. 



After death, if the belly be opened, the intestines both small 

 and large may be seen to be distended with gas, and the peri- 

 toneum (the membrane which connects the bowels and keeps 

 them in their places) is inflamed, or perhaps even gangrenous. 

 The walls of the intestines are thickened, and they also may be 

 reddened by congestion or present a greenish hue, characteristic 

 of gangrene. Between the muscular fibres there is a gelatinous 

 effusion, and inside the bowels blood and mucus may be 

 observed. 



With regard to the treatment of animals suffering from enteritis,: 

 it must be prompt. If the patient is full-blooded, blood must 

 be taken away at once, and, if necessary, in six hours' time the 

 bleeding should be repeated. As much as a gallon of blood 

 has been abstracted in some cases. The belly should be 

 stimulated by means of hot rugs wrung out from hot water,, 

 renewed at intervals, and by liniments. Great benefit may 

 accrue from doses of thin warm gruel containing a little linseed 

 oil. Opium is a most useful drug for allaying the pain ; but 

 aconite in suitable doses is perhaps better, if the constipation is 

 severe. Cathartics, if given, produce great mischief in this- 

 complaint. Most careful nursing is necessary. The impacted 

 feces may be removed from out the rectum manually or other- 

 wise, and anodyne and mucilaginous enemas may be very 

 advantageous. The animal may be allowed to assuage its thirst 

 from a supply of nitrated water placed conveniently by its side. 



Sometimes one may be told that an ox has expelled a *' snake." 

 In reality the so-called snake is a fibrinous cast of a portion of 

 the intestinal canal, flaky on the surface. This may occur in a 

 kind of enteritis not so severe and acute as that above described,. 

 and called croupous enteritis. After the ** snake " has been 

 discharged, recovery generally takes place. 



In the first instance this disease, as manifested in sheep, is 

 very similar to colic. After the initial symptoms are over, the 

 animal stamps and scratches the ground with its feet, tries to 



