204 



Tiarm from this form of rupture ; but, when the rupture follows suddenly any 

 sudden exertion, professional aid must be at once secured, as otherwise 

 death will be almost certain. 



CHOKING. 



Choking is due to the impaction of a portion of food. Cut hay or chaff, 

 swallowed rapidly, is especially liable to cause this condition. Frequently 

 the obstruction consists of a piece of turnip, mangel wurzel, carrot, or potato ; 

 and sometimes a whole egg given by an ignorant attendant, with the 

 erroneous view of curing colic, proves to be the offending agent. Sometimes 

 balls, made of larger size than they should be, will not pass down the gullet, 

 and becoming lodged there, cause choking. Animals with voracious 

 appetites, writes Percivall, are especially apt to bolt their corn, gulping it 

 down so rapidly that the successive portions, instead of passing into the 

 stomach, accumulate in the gullet and block up its channel. Only a small 

 collection, or a large one, may thus be made, before the animal manifests 

 any uneasiness. All at once he leaves off feeding. He makes every effort 

 to empty his gullet, and to relieve himself of his increasing distress. Should 

 he not succeed, his throat and neck become, through his ineffectual 

 exertions, spasmodically drawn up. Probably he gives every now and a^ain 

 a loud shriek, no less expressive of his own anguish, than excitive of the 

 compassion of those around him. Should he attempt to swallow water, the 

 fluid, together with the saliva abounding in his mouth, returns through his 

 nostrils. These urgent symptoms are not, however, always present, and 

 they depend chiefly on the position of the obstructing body. Thus, when it 

 is in the upper part of the gullet, the distress, coughing, and slavering are 

 very urgent. When the obstruction is in the neck, there is a visible 

 enlargement in the course of the gullet, the general symptoms being great 

 anxiety of countenance, sunken head, tremors, and partial sweats over the 

 body, with great exhaustion, shortly after the occurrence of the accident. 



The term choking is sometimes also employed for obstruction to the 

 windpipe, which sometimes is pressed upon by a too small collar, or in other 

 ways ; but it should be merely used to designate impaction of material in 

 the gullet. When the portion of the gullet in the chest is obstructed, the 

 symptoms manifested are usually not so severe. Sometimes even, the horse 

 will drink a little water. Vomiting is uncommon in the horse ; and, 

 when it does occur, the contents of the gullet usually escape through 

 the nostrils, though at times they make their way through the mouth. 

 When the whole length of the gullet is obstructed, the symptoms are most 

 severe, and the danger necessarily greater. A condition which may 

 be mistaken for choking is hellebore-poisoning, a case of which we have just 

 recorded in the April numbers of T/ie Veteri?iaria?i and The Veterinary Journal 

 for the year 1886. On March 6, we were called to a heavy draught horse 

 said to be choking. The symptoms observed by the owner had supervened 

 >three hours after the administration of a ball, containing a large quantity of 



