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treatment of enteritis in horses, and should not therefore be administered. 

 Hot fomentations by means of woollen rugs wrung out from very hot water, 

 should be applied to the belly and renewed every half-hour for five or six 

 times, while the pain is very acute, and afterwards every hour or so. During 

 the time when the rugs are being renewed, some stimulating liniment may be 

 well rubbed in by the attendant, over the belly. Some practitioners prefer 

 the application of a poultice of mustard, which is rubbed off in two or three 

 hours, and followed up by the application of hot fomentations. Enemas of 

 tepid water should be given by means of the ordinary funnel apparatus, but 

 on no account is it advisable to use an injecting syringe. 



If the horse is inclined to drink, he may be allowed linseed gruel or 

 linseed tea, or thin oatmeal gruel. We do not recommend the use of 

 purgatives in enteritis. After the abatement of the acute symptoms, the diet 

 should be laxative, consisting of bran-mashes, linseed and oatmeal gruel. 

 No hard food should be allowed on any account until all danger is over. 

 In some animals in high condition, bleeding is indicated in the early stages. 

 Blood, however, should be abstracted in moderation only. It is our practice 

 never to remove more than two or three quarts, and never to repeat the 

 operation. 



CONSTIPATION AND OBSTRUCTION OF THE BOWELS. 



Constipation, or torpid action of the bowels, is by no means uncommon in 

 the horse ; but, although it very seldom leads to a fatal result, it nevertheless 

 deserves attention and judicious management. It depends upon obstruction 

 of the bowels, or upon deficient intestinal action or secretion. The two latter 

 are in their turn chiefly due to dietetic errors, though they may also depend 

 upon other causes. Generally, the belly is full and distended, but this is by 

 no means a constant symptom. If the constipation continues unrelieved, the 

 appetite fails, weakness follows, and the pulse becomes feeble and accelerated. 

 In some instances a mucous secretion is discharged in cases of constipation, 

 and this is frequently mistaken for diarrhoea by the uninitiated, when, on the 

 contrar)', it is indicative of a costive condition of the bowels. As long as the 

 animal remains in pretty good health, all that is necessary in constipation is 

 a more laxative diet. If the constipation is habitual, a moderate dose of 

 aloes, say four or five drachms, followed up by the administration of vegetable 

 tonics, such as nux vomica, gentian and others, is efficacious in most instances. 

 In some cases irregularity of the bowels depends upon paral)'sis of part 

 of the intestine, and in these cases purgatives cannot be administered. In 

 these cases a mixture consisting of liquor strychnines hydrochloratis two 

 drachms, and of aromatic spirit of ammonia one ounce, may be given three 

 times daily in half a pint of gruel. For the prevention of the recurrence 

 of constipation, bran-mashes and other laxative diet may be substituted 

 occasionally for the more solid food ; and eight drachm balls made up of equal 

 parts of carbonate of ammonium, ginger, and gentian made up with treacle, 



