nKTEXTinX (>F .VEroxir.V. 739 



seriouB cases, milk should be withheld, and instead of it may be sub- 

 stituted well-boiled ^Tuel made with wheaten Hour, Liebig's farinaceous 

 food, or even eggs and beef-tea may be administered. 



The patient should be kept warm and comfortable; warm baths have 

 sometimes proved useful. 



cn apti:k xi. 



Retention of Meconium— Constipation. 



The contents of the intestines — the meconium — are generally ex- 

 pelled immediately after birth, when the umbilical circulation is 

 tirst interrupted. When the meconium is retained much longer it 

 is abnormal ; and this perhaps occurs more frequently with the Foal 

 than other creatures. The prolonged retention of the meconium 

 gives rise to constipation, and this is often a serious condition. 

 The animals in which it occurs are generally weakly, and not well 

 developed. 



Causes. 



Constipation is usually observed in Foals which have been dropped 

 in February or March, and whose dams have been fed exclusively on 

 dry fodder during the winter. This result is still more likely to follow 

 if the dams have been worked until near foaling-time. Their milk is 

 then deficient in those purgative qualities which are so necessary for 

 the new born animal. It is the same with Cows which have been 

 stall-fed all the winter with dry food ; and the Calves are almost 

 certain to suffer from retention of the meconium if deprived of the first 

 milk, oven if the mothers have been properly fed. 



Si/m2)toms. 



One or two days after birth the Foal appears to be uneasy, refuses to 

 suck, has tenesmus, makes efforts to defecate, exhibits symptoms of 

 colic, rolls on the ground, and often looks towards the abdomen ; the 

 back is arched, micturition is suspended, pulse and respiration are 

 frequent, the eyes are injected, and there is grinding of the teeth. 

 Enteritis sets in, and death takes place in struggles and convulsions. 



The symptoms are similar in the Calf : the abdomen is very much re- 

 tracted ; the respiration hurried ; the back is raised when the creature 

 is standing, though it generally persists in lying ; it moans continually; 

 refuses to suck ; and is very restless. 



Treatvient. 



The jyrcventivc treatment consists in attending to the feeding and 

 condition of the pregnant animal some time before parturition. The 

 young creature should be fed on the first milk its parent yields ; if this 

 cannot be given, then the animal should have a dose of castor-oil. 



The curative treatment must be directed towards removing the 

 meconium from the intestines. This may be eCfected by giving a soap 

 or oil enema, or previously removing as much as is accessible to a well- 

 oiled finger. 



That which is beyond reach of the finger, Franck recommends to be 

 brought away by means of a flexible, but not too weak, noose of wire. 

 The Cow should have an abundance of fluid to drink, and this may be 



