160 CHOKING. 



objects the most dangerous, are cut roots or potatoes. For- 

 merly many horses were choked by eggs given to them whole, 

 in the belief that they favoured good condition. Balls are 

 not unfrequently causes of choking, and this from their im- 

 proper administration, if left across the pharynx instead of 

 being delivered straight. If too large, or if given when the 

 secretions are scanty and the passage dry, they are apt to 

 stick down the neck, or in the chest. 



Lastly, bruised materials, and especially dry farinaceous 

 substances, or chaff, bran, broken locust beans, are apt to 

 accumulate in the gullet of the horse. These are most dan- 

 gerous cases of choking in the latter animal, and I have seen 

 instances in which the whole length of the oesophagus was 

 distended by such food. 



Symptoms. These may be classed under the heads Gene- 

 ral and Special. 



Symptoms of obstruction might be due to inflammation of 

 the passage, or to spasm, but the history of the case, coupled 

 with the general symptoms, suffice to diagnose obstructions 

 from foreign substances. The first general symptom is, that 

 liquids cannot pass into the stomach, but are ejected at once. 

 The second is the coughing and violent efforts at regurgita- 

 tion. In cattle a symptom common to all forms of choking 

 is tympanitis or hove. Uneasiness, more or less difficulty in 

 breathing, involuntary movements of the jaws and flow of 

 saliva from the mouth, are the other general symptoms. 



The special symptoms of choking depend on the positions 

 of the bolus, as well as to a certain extent its form. Thus, 

 when a ball, thorn, or other substance becomes fixed in the 

 pharynx, there is great distress, coughing, slavering, symp- 

 toms of suffocation, and in carnivora especially there is 

 ineffectual retching. It is in the horse and ox, but particu- 

 larly in the former, that greatest suffering is evinced in pha- 



