NURSING. 



17 



CHAPTER IV. 



Nursing, 



Corn, barley, wlieat, beans, peas, and all 

 highly nitrogenous food should usually be 

 discontinued during any attack of sickness; 

 but when the appetite is very poor, and 

 remains so for several days, it is permissible 

 to tempt it back with small quantities of 

 almost any kind of food. A handful of fresh 

 malt now and again, oatmeal, linseed gruel, 

 freshly-cut grass, young carrots., or a few 

 heads of green corn will frecjuently start a 

 horse eating. 



\\'hen there is total disinclination to drink, 

 a little salt, placed in the mouth, will often 

 have the desired result. 



All work and exercise of every description 

 must be at once stopped during sickness, and 

 this is most important to be remembered on 

 the outbreak of epizootic influenza in a stable. 

 Many a horse dies from lung complications 

 following the continuance of work in the early 

 stages of influenza, and many abdominal 

 diseases are seriously aggravated by the com- 

 mon custom of exercising a horse in the early 

 stages of colic. Perfect quiet and freedom to 

 roll around on a good bed of straw or other 

 soft material should be secured as soon as 

 possible, after the first signs of abdominal 

 pain are observed. 



The best rule to observe in the matter of 

 exercise during sickness, is to refrain from 

 all unnecessary movement when the tempera- 

 ture or pulse is higher than normal, and 

 whenever there are signs of pain of any 

 description. 



During convalescence, exercise may be 

 gradually started, and should be increased 

 daily, before putting the animal to regular 

 work again. 



On account of the extreme sensitiveness of 

 the abdominal organs of the horse, it is impor- 

 tant to remember that two or three days' rest 

 from work should always follow active 

 purgation. 



If possible, a sick horse should be at once 

 removed to a roomy box-stall, with plenty of 

 light and fresh air, wherein the temperature 

 is kept at 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, as 

 nearly as practicable. 



The legs and ears shoukl be kept warm, 

 even though it be necessarv to rub them 



wilh mustard and water, or with liniment 

 No. I. After hand-rubbing, the legs should 

 be bandaged with flannel bandages, and 

 the body also blanketed with rugs, if neces- 

 sar}'. The higher the temperature of the 

 animal, the m<jre necessary it is to keep the 

 skin in action by extra covering. 



When fomentations or poultices are indi- 

 cated, it must be remembered that they are 

 solely used for the purpose of applying moist 

 heat, and therefore should never be allowed 

 to get cold. W^hen they are discontinued, 

 the parts fomented must be dried, and stimu- 

 lating liniment or alcohol applied. Do not 

 begin fomentation without an ample supp!}- of 

 hot water. 



The main object of bandaging is to exclude 

 the air, and hence bandages should always be 

 accurately applied with consistent pressure, 

 but not enough to stop the circulation. Their 

 efficacy is wonderfully increased by applying 

 a layer of absorbent cotton to the skin before 

 adjusting the bandages. 



The use of enemata (clysters) is frequently 

 of great value, and for this purpose the old- 

 fashioned, cumbersome and expensive pumps 

 are not necessary. A tin funnel, shaped like 

 an inverted cone, eight inches in diameter at 

 the top, tapering to one inch at the bottom, to 

 which is attached two feet of one inch pipe at 

 right angles, can be fashioned by any tin- 

 smith; and will serve the purposes required. 

 The end of the clyster-pipe should be 

 snioothed with a lead finish, so as not to 

 injure the rectum. 



Enemata of warm water, or warm water and 

 soap, should be judiciously repeated, subse- 

 quently to the purgative, in cases of abdominal 

 obstruction; and as a substitute for purgative 

 medicine in other diseases when constipation 

 exists. From one to two gallons of water 

 may be allowed to enter, and, in order 

 to facilitate the process, it is better to place 

 the animal in such a position that the hind 

 quarters are on a higher level than the fore- 

 cjuarters. 



When nutrient enemata of linseed and oat- 

 meal gruel are indicated, in cases of extrem.e 

 weakness, with inability to eat, or digest good 

 food, remember that only one to two quarts 

 can be retained at one time. 



