98 THE CAT 



only had become absorbed, leaving the point 

 free when it had nearly been passed. If any 

 obstruction is found it should be removed, and 

 the evacuation of the accumulated matter has- 

 tened by a dose of one or two tablespooiisful 

 of castor-oil, or a somewhat larger quantity of 

 syrup of buckthorn. The intestine of the cat is 

 such a simple tube that by careful manipulation 

 almost any obstruction can be worked down. 



In case of diarrhoea the diet must be regu- 

 lated from the outset. The animal can be 

 given, at intervals of two hours, a powder made 

 of one-eighth grain of calomel and five grains 

 of saccharated pepsin. It should also be given 

 small doses (thirty drops to one teaspoonful) of 

 syrup of buckthorn, which, by stimulating the 

 secretion from the surface of the intestine, 

 relieves its congested condition. Should the 

 diarrhoea be more severe, or become chronic, 

 and be mixed with blood, tending to dysen- 

 tery, or should the animal seem to be in much 

 pain, as shown by its cries, and by tenderness 

 upon pressure over the belly, give thirty-drop 

 doses of paregoric, with teaspoonful doses of 

 the mixture of chalk (Mistura Greta). This 



