44 COLICS AND THEIR TREATMENT 



cold feel to it, even on a warm day. These are the cases 

 in which you should not pass a stomach tube, for, I as- 

 sure you, you will be blamed for tearing that horse's 

 stomach with the tube if you do pass it here. 



This tearing of the stomach is, of course, a thing 

 quite impossible with a double tube, yet you will be 

 blamed for the rupture, which is already present when 

 the tube is passed. 



The foregoing symptoms obtain, with a very few 

 exceptions, only in ruptures, not always of the stomach, 

 but of any part of the intestines and of the diaphragm 

 as well. But the cold sweat is almost a conclusive evi- 

 dence of rupture of the stomach, and a stomach tube 

 should never be passed on one of them. So long as you 

 are in time to see these cases belching gas and fluids from 

 the nose (vomiting), you can be sure that you have a 

 stomach that is full and not ruptured. For once rupture 

 of the stomach occurs no more fluid returns. 



I had been told time after time that when a horse 

 was seen to vomit that the stomach had ruptured. This 

 is unbelievable; how could vomition be accomplished 

 after rupture has taken place? The contents of the stom- 

 ach would empty through the rent in it. There could be 

 no muscular contractions to produce vomiting and so 

 no horse ever vomited after a rupture of the stomach had 

 occurred. As long as you can be sure of this, you 

 should not wait, or hesitate to pass the tube. Don't con- 

 sult the owner as to the work. He does not know, and 

 for this reason would likely object, for it would be new 

 to him. Get ready and do it. And while at it keep on 

 until you do get the results. Don't quit and have to say 



