380 



NEW ENGLAND FARjVCER. 



Aug, 



BOTS IN THE UHINAL BLADDER. 



R. H. L. Small of this place has just 

 lost a horse under rathtr peculiar cir- 

 _ cumstances. No one in this section 

 Jt^* ever saw or heard of a lilie occurrence. 

 ,^^^_ -2' 3) The horse lived about ten days from 

 the^H I St appearance of any difflculty, which to all 

 appearance was a stoppage of water. An exami- 

 naiion after death revealed the fact that the blad- 

 der contained upward of one hundred bots, simi- 

 lar in all respects to those found in the stomach of 

 Ell horses. They covered over two thirds of the 

 interior of the bladder, sticking tenaciously to it, 

 and in many places having nearly eaten through. 

 The bladder where they had eaten presented a pur- 

 ple hue, but the portion that was untouched looked 

 healthy and natural. 



Now we would like to know how these bots ob- 

 tained access into the interior of the bladder, as 

 the exterior and all other parts ( f the water pas- 

 sages were sound and whole. Mr. Small has the 

 bladder, together with the bots as taken from the 

 horse, preserved in alcohol, and will Dr. Dadd or 

 some one of the professional horse surgeons an- 

 swer tlirour«ti the columns of the Farmer the 

 above inquiry. D. G. SPAtLDiNG. 



Brownsville, West Windsor, Vt , May 30, 1870. 



Remarks. — ^We have examined all the books 

 on veterinary practice to which we could get 

 access ; also, the extensive correspondence of 

 Prof. Law, as reported in the New York Tri- 

 bune, and we fail to find a case parallel to the 

 one here described. 



■ Bot^ are not, as many persons suppose, 

 worms which commence and terminate their 

 existence in the stomach and intestines of the 

 horse, but they are the larvcs or maggots of 

 the Tiorse gad-fly. Guided by instinct, the fe- 

 male fly deposits her eggs or "nits" on such 

 parts of the horse as are within reach of the 

 animal's mouth — usually upon the fore legs. 

 Here they occasion some degree of irritation, 

 to relieve which, they are seized with the 

 tongue and teeth, and conveyed into the mouth, 

 whence they easily reach the stomach. Sub- 

 jected to the warmth and other favorable con- 

 ditions afforded by that organ, these nits are 

 soon converted into larvce or "bots," and fas- 

 ten themselves to the walls of their temporary 

 abode. Here they feed upon the nutriment 

 contained in the stomach, and, unless disturbed 

 by disease or the action of medicines, remain 

 in these comfortable quarters until the approach 

 of the time far their final metamorphosis. 

 They then detach themselves from the inner 

 coat of the stomach, pass along with the food 

 and feces through the intestines, are ejected 

 from the rectum with the dung, and very soon, 

 (the time being proportioned to the degree of 

 temperature to which they may be exposed,) 

 they are changed into a perfect insect — a lull 



grown gadfly. Such, in brief, is the history 

 of that little insect, one stage of whose exist- 

 ence is represented by the loathsome maggot 

 called hot, and which in this larva state is the 

 great humbug of ignorant "horse doctors." 



How often, and to what extent, the presence 

 of bots in the stomach of a horse may become 

 a source of disease, is a disputed question. 

 Doubtless they produce discomfort sometimes, 

 and when existing in large numbers, they may 

 occasion serious disease ; but the most learned 

 naturalists and the most skilful veterinarians 

 agree in the opinion that they are far less in- 

 jurious than most persons suppose them to be ; 

 indeed, it is well known that they exist in con- 

 siderable numbers in the stomachs of most 

 horses, at particular seasons of the year, and 

 that without disturbing the animal's health in 

 the least. 



The idea that bots gnaw or feed upon a 

 healthy stomach, eating their way through it, 

 sometime, and escaping into other portions of 

 the body, is an erroneous one. The horse's 

 stomach is their natural habitation, and un- 

 less disturbed by some unnatural cause, they 

 will not leave it until their appointed time. 

 But this organ may become diseased. By too 

 much food, by improper food, by too much 

 medicine, by improper medicine, or by the op- 

 eration of some other cause or combination of 

 causes, inflammation may invade the stomach. 

 The horse stamps with his fore feet, strikes at 

 his belly with his hind ones, groans, looks anx- 

 iously and frequently behind him, lies down, 

 gets up, lies down again, bites at his sides, 

 and in various ways manifests his intense suf- 

 fering, and his anxiety to obtain relief. The 

 neighbors assemble ; one calls it a case of 

 bots, another calls it something else, and each 

 recommends a remedy. But the animal gets 

 "no better very fast," and a "horse-doctor" is 

 summoned, who, perhaps, possesses a little 

 more knowledge of diseases and remedies than 

 his patient does. Medicines are now admin- 

 istered with an unsparing hand. The doctor 

 shouts "bots!" and tries his best to find 

 something strong enough to kill the bots, and 

 weak enough to save the horse ! But the dis- 

 ease progresses — aggravated, it may be, by the 

 treatment ; adhesions and ulcerations, more or 

 less extensive, take place ; gangrene or mor- 

 tification ensues ; and the poor sufferer suc- 

 cumbs, at last, to the combined forces of dis- 



