47 



treatment. Soft feed and mucilaginous and nourishing di-inks are to 

 l)e gi^•en during these attacks. 



li^olvuhis, Gut-tie or Twisting of the Boirels. — These are the terms 

 applied to tlie boAvels when twisted or knotted. This accident is I'ather 

 a conimon one, and frequently results from the violent manner in 

 which A horse throws himself about when attacked by spasmodic colic. 

 The symptoms are the same as those of intussusception and obstruc- 

 tions of the bow'els; the same directions as to treatment are therefore 

 to be observed. 



Diarrltea is due to eating moldy or musty food, drinking stagnant 

 water, diseased condition of the teeth, eating irritating suljstances, to 

 being kejit on low, marshy pastures, and exposure during cold nights, 

 low, darnj) stables, or to some morbid or inflammatory condition of the 

 intestinal canal or some of its annexed organs. It is more frequently 

 a synijjtom of functional disorder than an organic disease. >Some 

 horses are predisposed t<i scour and are called ''washy " by horsemen; 

 they are those of long bodies, long legs, and nari-ow, flat sides. Horses 

 of this build are almost sure to scour if fed or v,atered immediately 

 before being put to work. Fast or road work, of course, aggravates 

 this trouble. Diarrhea may exist as a complication of other diseases, 

 as pneumonia and influenza for instance, and again during the dis- 

 eases of the liver. 



The synqjtoms are the frequent evacuations of liquid stools, with or 

 without pronounced abdominal pain, loss of appetite, emaciation, etc. 



Treatment is at times very simple, but requires the utmost care and 

 judgment. If due to faulty food or water it is sufficient to change these. 

 If it results from some irritant in the intestines, this is best gotten rid 

 of by the administration of an oleaginous purge, the diarrhea mostly 

 disapipearing with the cessation of the o]3eration of the medicine. If, 

 however, jjurging continues, it may be checked by gi^nng wheat flour 

 in water, starch water, white-oak bark tea, chalk, opium, or half -dram 

 doses of sulphuric acid in one-half i^int of water twice or thrice daily. 

 I have good results from i)OM'dered opium, '1 drams, and subnitrate of 

 bismuth, 1 ounce, repeated three times a day. One-quarter pound 

 doses of the "Thompsonian composition,'' to which maybe added 1 

 ounce of baking soda, given two or three times a day, are frequently 

 effective. It should be remembered in all cases to look to the water 

 and feed the horse is receiving. If either of these is at fault they are 

 at once to be discontinued. We should feed sparingly of good, easily 

 digested foods. In tliat peculiar build of nervous horses that scour on 

 the road but little can be done, as a rule. They should be watered 

 and fed as long as possible before going on a drive. If there is much 

 flatulencj' accompanying diarrhea, baking soda or other alkaline med- 

 icines often produce a cui-e, while if the discharges have a very dis- 

 agreeable odor, this can be corrected by 1 ounce of sulphite of soda or 

 half-dram doses of carljolic acid in water, repeated twice a day. Be 



