THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS 197 



can be given every four to eight hours, and blankets wrung out of 

 hot water should be rolled around the body, with a waterproof 

 covering on the top. 



307. Gut-Tie is due to some false membrane forming in the 

 abdominal cavity and getting attached to or encircling some part of 

 the intestines. It is mostly found in young bullock-stirks, yet I have 

 seen cases in young heifers. Unlike horses, cattle bear this very 

 patiently, lingering on for six or seven days, where it would only take 

 a like number of hours for a horse to fight itself to death. The animal 

 stops feeding, twitches the hind-quarters, elevates and twists the tail, 

 crosses one hind-leg over the other, and occasionally, with pain, 

 passes a small quantity of bloody mucus. If let out, it has a great 

 tendency to walk backwards, and, if near a bank, will back its hind- 

 legs on to the top, and stand with its fore-feet in the ditch. This 

 appears to give great relief. Treatment. — It is dangerous in this ail- 

 ment to give large doses of purgative medicine. Small doses (5 to 

 8 ounces) of linseed oil, with 1 ounce of chlorodyne, may be given 

 every six or eight hours to keep the patient quiet, but hypodermic 

 injections of morphia and atropine are most to be relied upon. 

 Another remedy recommended is to cut into the right flank, pass the 

 hand through the opening, and endeavour to find the cord and 

 divide it, if possible ; but this operation should only be attempted by 

 a professional expert. In one case, that of a bullock, I passed my 

 hand as far up the rectum as possible, and, when working along, felt 

 a cord outside the bowel. I gave it three gentle pulls, when it 

 broke. The animal got immediate relief, and did well. 



308. Before going any farther, I must add a word of caution, 

 which is, never to horn gruel into an animal recovering from an 

 illness, as is too frequently done. If the patient will drink cold 

 water, hay or nettle tea, milk, or oatmeal gruel, offer them fre- 

 quently, and entice it to eat with all sorts of tit-bits of food— oat- 

 sheaf for preference, wheat, or barley-straw, sliced potatoes, etc. — 

 so as to induce chewing the cud, which the horning in of nutriment 

 prevents, and therefore retards recovery. Again, while injections 

 are very serviceable in bowel complaints in the horse, they are of 



