STOMACH LAVAGE 41 



Colic from Acute Gastritis 



There is another form of indigestion, one which is 

 met with very often, and one we all agree should be 

 termed acute indigestion. It occurs when the horse is 

 fed early before the usual hour and started as soon as 

 he has eaten on a long drive, of say from twenty to forty 

 miles. 



Symptoms. — These cases begin with purging out, 

 after being driven from seven to fifteen miles. As the 

 animal is forced onward he shows little or no inconven- 

 ience while moving, or he may slack up in his gait, but 

 not enough to be called really sick, but every half to one 

 mile he will have a movement of the bowels, and at each 

 time the discharge grows more watery or fluid. This will 

 continue for several miles, when gradually it will cease 

 and apparently he is over his trouble. 



The difficulty, however, is not over, for when un- 

 hitched and led to water he will walk with his head down 

 and with a slow, shambling gait. He refuses to drink or 

 eat ; stands resting on one or the other of the hind feet ; 

 head hanging down; at intervals the head will be raised 

 and the nose pointed outwards. As soon as these move- 

 ments are gone through with the head will be drooped 

 again and a change of position of the hind legs will take 

 place, shifting from one to the other. 



Soon he will paw a little with one front foot and then 

 with the other ; instead of raising and lowering the head, 

 he will now look around towards his sides and you will 

 note that the nostrils are more widely open than normal 

 and the breathing is just a trifle faster than it should be. 



As time goes on he will get more uneasy and threaten 



