GASTEO-ENTERITIS. 65 



more dependence upon the care and feed than any medication that 

 may be adopted. First of all the horse must be placed in a dry, 

 warm, yet well- ventilated stable; the skin is to receive attention by 

 frequent rubbings of the surface of the body, with blankets, and 

 bandages to the legs. The water must be pure and given in small 

 quantities ; the food, that which is light and easily digested. Medic- 

 inally, give at first a light dose of castor oil, about one-half pint, to 

 >vhich has been added 2 ounces of laudanum. The vegetable or min- 

 eral astringents are also to be given. Starch injections containing 

 laudanum often afford great relief. The strength must be kept up 

 by milk punches, eggs, beef tea, oatmeal gruel, etc. In spite of the 

 best care and treatment, however, dysentery is likely to prove fatal. 

 In the case of nurslings, the dam should be placed in a healthy con- 

 dition or, failing in this, milk should be had from another mare or 

 from a cow. 



Gastro-enteritis. — This condition consists in an inflammation of 

 the stomach and intestines. Instead of being confined to the mucous, 

 or lining, membrane, as in gastro-intestinal catarrh, the inflammatory 

 process extends deeper and may even involve the entire thickness of 

 the wall of the organ. 



This disease may be caused by irritant food, hofe drinks, sudden 

 chilling, moldy or decayed foods, foul water, parasites, or by chemical 

 poisons. It may also complicate some general diseases, especially 

 infectious diseases, as anthrax, influenza, rabies, or petechial fever. 

 Long-continued obstruction of the bowels or displacement resulting 

 in death are preceded by enteritis. 



The symptoms differ somewhat with the cause and depend also, to 

 some extent, upon the chief location of the inflammation. In general 

 the animal stops eating or eats but little; it shows colicky pain; 

 fever develops ; the pulse and respiration become rapid ; the mucous 

 membrane becomes red; the mouth is hot and dry. Pressure upon 

 the abdomen may cause pain. Intestinal sounds can not be heard at 

 the flank. There is constipation in the earlier stages that is followed 

 later by diarrhea. The extremities become cold. Sometimes the 

 feces are coated with or contain shreds of fibrin, looking like scraps 

 of dead membrane, and they have an evil, putrid odor. If the disease 

 is caused by moldy or damaged food there may be great muscular 

 weakness with partial paralysis of the throat, as shown by inability 

 to swallow. If chemical poisons are the cause, this fact may be 

 shown by the sudden onset of the disease, the history of the adminis- 

 tration of a poison or the entire absence of known cause, the rapid 

 development of threatening symptoms, the involvement of a series of 

 animals in the absence of a contagious disease, and the special symp- 

 toms and alterations known to be produced by certain poisons. To 

 H. Doc. 795, 50-2 5 



