I044 Veterinary Obstetrics 



into the intestine. For this purpose an ordinary soft rubber 

 horse catheter ma}^ be passed into the intestine as far as possible, 

 and the end fitted upon a syringe, or a small funnel may be in- 

 serted into the catheter and elevated sufficiently that fluid poured 

 into the funnel will gravitate into the intestine. If the catheter 

 is used, it may be po.ssible to pa.ss it gently along the wall 

 of the intestine, and, by keeping the fluid flowing through it, 

 to push it beyond the pellets of meconium, .so that the fluid is 

 depo.sited behind them, insuring their being forced out at the 

 first expulsive effort. In some cases we have supplanted the 

 normal salt solution or soda bicarbonate .solution with warm cot- 

 ton seed, olive, or raw lin.seed, oil. 



Complementary to the enema it may be advisable to admin- 

 ister cathartics. The choice of cathartics may vary with cir- 

 cumstances. If the case does not seem at all urgent, a bland oil 

 is the best. An ordinary foal may be given 2 ounces of castor oil, 

 or 4-ounce doses of raw linseed, cotton seed, or olive, oil. In 

 other instances the practitioner may not feel disposed to await 

 the slow action of oil, and may resort instead to the hypodermic 

 cathartics in small doses, such as eserine sulphate or arecoline 

 in do.ses of 1-20 to 1-12 grain, which may be repeated in 30 to 45 

 minutes. 



But with all this treatment, if the case has been neglected, it 

 may be impo.ssible to dislodge the pellets. They may be tightly 

 impacted for a considerable distance along the rectum and float- 

 ing colon. In one neglected case in our clinic, we could recog- 

 nize the pellets of meconium, which completely blocked the rectum, 

 at a distance of 12 inches from the anus. The hard pellets could 

 be clearly felt with an ordinary gum horse catheter. The liquids 

 injected directly against the obstruction were all to no purpose. 

 Eserine failed to cause the expulsion of the meconium. The 

 foal eventually perished, apparently from toxaemia, .since there 

 was no enteritis present upon post-mortem examination. The 

 conditions presenting them.selves upon post-mortem examination, 

 in this one case, suggested that, had we performed laparotomy 

 and grasped the intestine, the pellets of meconium could have 

 been pushed backward and finally forced out, or the intestine 

 might have been opened and the pellets thus removed. But, in 

 our experience, if the case has prompt attention no such opera- 

 tion is demanded, and ordinarily the case is easily handled. 



