1042 Veterinary Obstetrics 



rience it has appeared that retention of the meconium is most 

 common in foals whose mothers have been kept continu- 

 ously stabled and upon dry food prior to parturition. Mares 

 which are regularly exercised, enjoy the freedom of the pasture, 

 or are judiciously worked, as a general rule give birth to foals 

 which do not have difficulty from retained meconium. It has 

 been asserted that retention of the meconium is usually caused 

 b}'^ the failure of the young animal to secure the colostrum or 

 first milk, but this cannot properly be held, since the condition 

 exists at the time the fetus is born, so that the colostrum could 

 only act as a curative agent and not as a preventive. 



Symptoms. The symptoms of retention of the meconium 

 appear very soon after birth, within 10 to 20 hours, but may be 

 so slight as to escape observation by the owner until some time 

 later. Usually within 24 hours after birth, very evident symp- 

 toms of illness appear, consisting fundamentally of intermittent 

 colic, with the general symptoms of impaction of the large colon. 

 These consist chiefly of stretching, or standing in a position of 

 extension, with the hind limbs extended far backward, the 

 anterior limbs forward, and the back depressed much as if the 

 animal were attempting to urinate ; but the position differs from 

 that attitude in that the hocks are not flexed and that there is 

 no real effort being made to urinate. A close watch will de- 

 velop the fact that there is straining, as if to expel something 

 from the abdominal cavity, but the impaction of the hard, dry 

 meconium in the rectum prevents its walls from contracting, 

 and hence the actions of the foal are wanting in the definite 

 symptoms of an attempt at defecation. 



The colic present may be of any degree of .severity. Usually 

 it is quite mild at the beginning. The young animal will look 

 at its flank and kick at the abdomen with its hind feet, will lie 

 down and roll, and show a strong tendency to attempt to balance 

 itself upon its back. After lying for some time it will get up, 

 looking bright, and perhaps go to the teat and feed with an 

 apparently normal appetite for a little time. It will then let go 

 the teat and resume its stretched condition, perhaps standing in 

 this attitude for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, occasionally looking 

 somewhat anxiously at its flank ; it may then lie down and roll 

 again. Thus the symptoms may change more or less rapidly 



