54 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



operating. There is always danger of Riperpurgation if a physic is 

 Driven to a horse suffering from diseases of the respiratory organs. 

 Small and often-repeated physics are also to be avoided, as they pro- 

 duce debility and great depression of the system and predispose to 

 this disorder. When a physic is to be given one should rest the horse 

 and give him sloppy food until the medicine begins to operate; clothe 

 the body with a warm blanket; keep out of drafts; give only warm 

 water in small quantities. After a horse has purged from twelve to 

 twenty-four hours it can mostly be stopped, or " set," as horsemen 

 say, by feeding on dry oats and hay. Should the purging continue, 

 however, it is l>fcst treated by giving demulcent drinks linseed tea 

 and oatmeal or wheat-Hour gruel. After this the astringents spoken 

 of for diarrhea may be given. Besides this the horse is to receive 

 brandy in doses of from 2 to 4 ounces, with milk and eggs, four or 

 rive times a day. 



Laminitis " founder" is a frequent sequel of superpurgation and 

 is to be guarded against by removing the shoes and standing the horse 

 on moist sawdust or some similar bedding. 



DYSKNTKRY. This disease, sometimes called "bloody flux," is an 

 intestinal disease attended with fever, occasional abdominal pains, 

 and fluid discharges mingled with blood. Discharges in dysentery 

 are coffee colored or bloody, liquid, and very offensive in odor, and 

 passed with much straining. It is rare in the horse, but is sometimes 

 quite prevalent among foals. 



CanxcH. Probably the most common cause is keeping young horses 

 in particular for a long time on low, wet, marshy pastures, without 

 other feed (a diarrhea of long standing sometimes terminates in dys- 

 entery) ; exposure during cold, wet weather; decomposed foods; stag- 

 nant water that contains large quantities of decomposing vegetable 

 matter: low, dump, and dark stables, particularly if crowded; the 

 existence of some disease, as tiilx>rculosis of the abdominal form. In 

 Buckling foals it may come, from feeding the dam on irritant foods or 

 from disease of the udder. In other foals it may be produced by 

 exjxwure to cold and damp, to irritant food, or to worms. 



-The initial symptom is a chill, which probably escapes 



in the majority of instances. The discharges are offensive and 



for the mst part liquid, although it is common to find lumps of solid 



feral mutter floating in this liquid portion; shreds of mucous mem- 



blood may I*, passed, or the evacuations may be muco-puru- 



s much straining, and, rarely, symptoms of abdominal 



? down a great deal : 'the' pulse is quickened and 



vated. Thirst is a prominent symptom. In the 



s under two to three weeks, but in foals the 



dineaM* nmy end in death after a few days. 



is most unsatisfactory, and I am inclined to place 



