64 DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS 



symptoms of that form of poisoning are as follows: vomiting of an amount 

 of very offensive matter, rotten masses of meat and with it quantities 

 of bad-smelling mucus and sometimes accompanied by violent bloody 

 diarrhoea, intense thirst and high fever, 40 to 42°. The writer has seen, 

 however, instances where the temperature was subnormal, a small rapid 

 pulse, great weakness, often complete paralysis, great depression and 

 indifference to surroundings. Death generally follows with every symp- 

 tom of collapse in 15 to 24 hours. If the symptoms are less acute, there 

 is muscular or intestinal cramp, great difficulty in swallowing, disturbance 

 of sight, dilatation of the pupils, bloody urine. When an animal makes 

 a recovery, it is very weak for a long time, and it is almost impossible to 

 get the animal to eat. 



After death, the process of decomposition begins almost imme- 

 diately, and if a post-mortem is to be held, it must be made as soon as 

 possible. If this is done, the stomach and intestines will present, an 

 intense hemorrhagic inflammation of their walls, swelling of the follicles 

 and mesenteric glands, as well as severe inflammatory changes in the 

 adjacent organs, liver, spleen, heart, etc. 



The treatment has to be symptomatic. In the beginning give an 

 emetic (apomorphia) subcutaneously, washing out the stomach, with 

 warm water, or very weak solution of creolin, and the administration of 

 purgatives, emulsions of castor, olive, or linseed oil, and tepid rectal injec- 

 tions of creolin, and massage the abdomen with alcohol or a jDriessnitz 

 compress, with tepid water or flaxseed poultice. The bodily strength 

 of the animal should be kept up, with black cofTee, wine, whiskey, or 

 brandy, spirits of camphor. When there is great depression, spirits of 

 camphor may be injected subcutaneously. In mild cases we may treat 

 them in certain lines as catarrh of the stomach and intestines. The 

 animal should be fed on light foods, easily digested, and in small quantities, 

 no solid meat the first forty-eight hours. 



Constipation, Costiveness. 



This condition may result, from the animal eating food that is diffi- 

 cult to digest, i.e., potatoes, bread, beans, peas, dog biscuit, corn flour, 

 bones, particularly calf bones, or where the animal has little or no exercise, 

 animal kept on the chain or penned in a small yard, hunting dogs that 

 have worked hard during the open season and during spring and summer 

 do nothing, old dogs that have weakened digestions, particularly if they 

 have suffered from chronic intestinal catarrh (see under that heading). 

 Costiveness is also seen as a result of fever, rheumatism, peritonitis, 

 catarrhal icterus, and diseases of the spine. 



