90 COLICS AND THEIR TREATMENT 



more appetite than on Wednesday. The attending veter- 

 inarian found sensitiveness in the region of the bladder 

 on rectal exploration and as the urine was very cloudy, 

 prescribed a refrigerant and alkaline diuretic. 



Palpation of the bladder seems to have produced so 

 much straining that further exploration was impossible. 



On Friday, June 14th, I saw the case for the first time. 

 On being hurriedly summoned, at 8 :30 a. m., I found 

 the horse in a serious condition. The owner said that 

 there had been a decided change for the worse during 

 the last two hours previous to my arrival. The symp- 

 toms were very puzzling, the pain was then of the type 

 which causes the horse to step quickly back and forth, 

 looking anxiously to one flank and then the other, crouch 

 as if to lie down, then straighten up and paw. The res- 

 piration was of the "puffy" type. There was patchy 

 perspiration, but still the pulse was fairly soft and smooth 

 at sixty per minute and the general circulation seemed 

 good with no chilling of the extremities. 



As neither the history nor the external manifestations 

 enabled me to make a diagnosis, I then proceeded with a 

 thorough rectal exploration which soon revealed, to a 

 certain extent, the nature of the trouble. The rectum 

 was empty and dry, the intestines in the pelvic region 

 were flacid, on advancing to the right flank region the 

 hand encountered a very severely impacted large intes- 

 tine, which was sensitive to palpation. The posterior 

 and lateral faces of this bowel, as far as could be reached, 

 were irregularly rounded. 



Superiorly the viscous seemed to be attached to the 

 roof of the abdomen in the sub-lumbar region. 



