37 



The disturbances of digestion included under this head are not so ])yo- 

 nounced as to jiroduee colic, yet our consideration of diseases of the 

 digestive organs would bo incomplete if we failed to mention this, the 

 most frequent of all digestive disorders. The seat and causes of indi- 

 gestion are found to vary in different horses, or even in the same horse 

 at different times. Apart from tlie indigestibility of the food itself 

 there are many causes productive of indigestion. The teeth are often 

 at fault. Where these are sharp, irregular, or decayed the food is 

 imperfectly masticated and swallowed before there is a proper admix- 

 ture with the saliva. Bolting of the food; the bile — secretion of the 

 liver — may be defective in quality or quantity; there may be lack of 

 secretion of the i^ancreatic juice, or there may be simjily want of per- 

 istaltic movement of the stomach and intestines, thereby causing an 

 interrui)tion of the passage of the ingesta. The lorincipal seat of indi- 

 gestion, however, is in the stomach or small intestines. Whenever, 

 from any cause, the secretions from these i^arts arc excessive or defi- 

 cient, dyspepsia or indigestion must invariably follow. Indigestion 

 is often due to keex^ing horses on low, marshy j)astures, and i^articu- 

 larly during cold weather; wintering an hard, dry hay or corn-stalks, 

 and other bulky and innutritive food; irregular feeding or overfeed- 

 ing (though this latter is more likely to produce engorged stomach, or 

 tympanites of the stomach, which have been described by some as 

 "acute indigestion"). 



Sy)nptoins. — Indigestion is characterized by irregular appetite; re- 

 fusing all food at times, and at others eating ravenously; the appetite 

 is not only irregular, but is often depraved; there is a disposition on 

 the part of the horse to eat unusual substances, as wood, soiled bed- 

 ding, or even his own feces; the bowels are irregular, to-day loose 

 and bad smelling, to-morrow bound; grain often passed whole in the 

 feces, and the hayi^assed in balls or imi^acted masses undergoing but 

 little change; the horse frequently passes considerable quantities of 

 wind that has a sour odor. The animal loses flesh, the skin presents 

 a hard, dry appearance, and seems verj^ tight (hide-bound). If these 

 symi)toms occur in a single horse in a stable where others are kept we 

 must look not to the feed, but to the animal himself, for the cause of 

 his trouble. 



Treatment. — It is evident, from the many causes of indigestion and 

 from its protean forms, that we must be exceedingly careful in our 

 examinations of the subject of this disorder. We must commence 

 with the food, i^s quality, quantit}^ and time of feeding; examine the 

 water supply, and see, besides, that it is given before feeding; then 

 we must carefully observe the condition of the mouth and teeth; and, 

 continuing our observations as best we may, endeavor to locate the 

 seat of trouble — whether it is in the stomach, intestines, or annexed 

 organs of digestion, as the liver and pancreas. If the teeth are sharp 

 or irregular they must be rasped down; if any are decayed they must 



