I024 Veterinary Obstetrics 



and thus invites the occurrence of disease. It is frequently- 

 observed that, when young animals are over-fed, and especially 

 when they receive their food in too large amounts at a given 

 period, they are liable to suffer from dysentery. Under natural 

 conditions, where the young animal is constantly with the 

 mother and has opportunity to suck as often as it may like, the 

 danger from over-feeding is not very marked. However, if the 

 young animal is separated from its mother during long intervals, 

 and thus becomes very hungry, it will eat voraciously when op- 

 portunity is afforded, and will partake of more milk than the 

 state of its digestive organs warrants, thus tending to induce 

 digestive disturbances. In mares it is frequently observed that 

 the udder is greatly distended with milk at the time that the foal 

 is born, and that the young animal shows a voracious appetite, 

 attempting to take all the milk present, with disastrous results. 



An improper quality of milk is also dangerous for the diges- 

 tive functions of the new-born. When mares or other mothers 

 are hard- worked, and especially in warm weather, their milk is 

 very liable to produce digestive disturbances in the young ani- 

 mal, and all the more so because the foal is usually denied the 

 opportunity to suck at frequent intervals, and becomes very 

 hungry. Added to this condition, the foal of a work mare is 

 occasionally compelled to follow her upon a long journey, the 

 fatigue of which favors the occurrence of dysentery, and greatly 

 aggravates the disease when it already exists. 



The adaptability of the food to the new-born is highly impor- 

 tant. New-born animals sometimes show a depraved appetite, 

 and soon after birth partake of food which they are not compe- 

 tent to digest. In one instance we found upon post mortem ex- 

 amination, in a case of fatal diarrhea in a foal three or four days 

 old, a tangled mass of straw in the stomach, weighing perhaps half 

 a pound, incapable of digestion or of escaping from the organ 

 through the pylorus, and acting as an irremovable irritant. It 

 is very common to observe foals habitually swallowing bedding 

 and other forms of rubbish or indigestible substances. It is a 

 very common experience, when examining the feces in a case of 

 scours, to find mixed with the intestinal discharges, undigested 

 particles of straw or other similar substances. The eating of 

 hay by very young animals frequently acts as a cause of persis- 

 tent dysentery. 



