134 INFLAMMATION OF THE INTESTINES. 



is brought on by rheumatism, as already explained. - See Rhew 

 niatism. 



Inflamed bowels, from costiveness, forms the second kind, and 

 is a very common occurrence. Dogs will bear costweness for 

 many days before inflammation comes on ; but when it has com- 

 menced it is not easily removed. This kind is known by the 

 gradual manner in which it attacks, and by its being at first un- 

 accompanied by any very active symptoms. The dog appears dull, 

 dishkes to move, and hides himself ; his belly is hot, and sore also : 

 the constipation is sometimes so complete, that nothing at all comes 

 from him ; at others a few drops of faeces are strained out at every 

 effort, which is apt to make the observer suppose that the dog is 

 not bound, but, on the contrary, purged ; he is, therefore, led to 

 neglect the principal means of relief. In the inflammation arising 

 from costiveness, the sickness of stomach is not at first so distress- 

 ing, nor is the dog so extremely anxious for water, as he is when 

 it arises from a cold taken, or when it comes on spontaneously. 

 The obstruction that exists is commonly situated far back in the 

 larger bowels, so that, by introducing the finger into the funda- 

 ment, a quantity of hardened excrement may frequently be felt. 

 This occurs so often, that, whenever costiveness is even suspected, 

 the dog should be examined, by passing the fore-finger up the anus. 



Obstructions may, however, exist in any portion of the intes- 

 tinal track. I have in my possession a portion of jejunum, in the 

 centre of which intestine is a cork, that had been brutally forced 

 down the throat. Needles and pins form fatal obstructions some- 

 times, by getting across the bowels. I have also known a splinter 

 of a chicken-bone imbed itself in the substance of one of the in - 

 testines, and form an insurmountable stoppage. Intussusception 

 also now and then occurs, in which one portion of bowel gets 

 folded within another from spasm, and thus forms a complete in- 

 terruption to the passage of the faeces. 



Whenever we can ascertain by the anus that the obstruction 

 consists of a simple accumulation of hardened excrement within 

 the rectum, it is evident that purging medicines by the mouth can 



