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Besides dietetic errors, there are many other causes of colic. This 

 painful affection may be due to mechanical displacement of the bowels, or to 

 the presence of parasites in the bowels, and sometimes also in the 

 neighbouring parts. Young animals, especially when badly fed and 

 attended to, are more liable to colic from this source than older horses. 



The onset of spasmodic colic is generally more or less sudden. The 

 horse shows signs of abdominal pain by looking round at his flanks, by 

 restlessness, by striking at his belly with his hind feet, and in various other 

 ways. He lies down and rolls about from side to side. After a while he 

 rises and eats a little, and soon, perhaps, a paroxysm of pain again attacks 

 him. 



In uncomplicated cases of colic, the pulse and respirations and 

 temperature are rarely elevated, except during the paroxysms of pain. The 

 pulse is then much accelerated, and the respiration usually becomes 

 hurried. The attack may now subside, or may gradually become more and 

 more severe, the paroxysms being more continuous, and the pain more 

 intense. The restlessness and excitability increase, and partial stupor 

 supervenes. The attack, if unrelieved, may end in death from continued 

 pain or from exhaustion, with varying complications. In most cases of colic 

 the bowels are constipated, and the excrement, if any, which is passed is 

 usually hard and often coated. 



The flatulent form of colic due to distension of the intestine with gas, 

 may be associated with spasm of the muscular coats, or it may occur 

 independently of it. It is especially to be attributed to digestive disturbance 

 depending on ingestion of food, which is prone to undergo fermentation. 

 This affection usually com.es on suddenly. The horse is noticed to be very 

 restless, and the abdomen distends and becomes tense, and gives a hollow 

 note if struck. The breathing is short, and the pulse is frequent and feeble. 

 The extremities are cold, and there may be more or less delirium and 

 dizziness. When the animal lies down, he does not throw himself 

 suddenly on the ground, as in spasmodic colic, but allows himself to fall 

 more slowly and carefully. If unrelieved, the continued distension may lead 

 to further disturbance of the heart and lungs, and death may result from 

 asphyxia. Sometimes rupture of the colon or other part of the bowel or of 

 the diaphragm is the cause of death. 



In ordinary cases of colic, the prognosis is very favourable in bolh 

 varieties, but it is not so good in severe cases of the flatulent kind. In all 

 prolonged cases with great pain and restlessness, there is danger of 

 displacement or entanglement of the intestine; and when gaseous distension 

 is very great, and the struggles are very violent, there is great risk of rupture 

 of the large bowels or of the diaphragm. 



In inflammation of the bowels, of which we shall treat hereafter, the 

 abdominal pain, unlike that of colic, is continuous, it is more agonising, and 

 rarely has periods of intermission. The prognosis in this latter disease is 

 very grave. 



In all cases of colic, except those in which diarrhoea is present, it is 

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