102 THEORY AND PRACTICE 



tions of turnips, etc. If the cutter is out of order, the food will 

 be imperfectly cut up and the large pieces will cause choke. 

 Cows will choke on apples which they have picked up from the 

 ground. Cows which are giving milk are inclined to chew bones 

 and linen garments, — I have known them to chew up a whole 

 washing and get choked ! Dogs usually choke on spools, needles, 

 hatpins, etc. Cats the same. Sheep and pigs seldom choke — 

 they are not so ravenous. Poultry fed once a day and then given 

 meal will eat too fast and choke. Horses occasionally choke on 

 solid substances. 



Semeiology. — The horse quits eating and makes spasmodic 

 but ineffectual efforts to swallow. He becomes restless, moves 

 back and forth ; has an anxious countenance, etc. Nothing can 

 produce more nervous excitement than a choke. In the course 

 of a few hours the obstructed oesophagus produces nausea — 

 animal will stretch his neck and he gets spasmodic cramps of the 

 cervical and pectoral muscles. These draw their heads toward 

 their knees. This is seen also in gastric indigestion. It is simply 

 a diagnostic symptom of nausea, and may be so severe as to 

 cause the horse to shriek with pain. These cramps are called 

 retching or ineffectual attempts to vomit. 



If the choke is a cervical one there will be an enlargement 

 along the course of the oesophagus on the left side of the neck 

 about the fiVst rib. In dogs, cats and chickens the choke is cer- 

 vical ; in cattle the choke is often thoracic ; in the horse and in 

 cattle the choke may be at the cardiac opening. The symptoms 

 of thoracic choke are much the same as in the cervical but the 

 nausea is more marked. The horse fills up his oesophagus to the 

 obstruction and then throws out the food again. He throws it 

 out through the nose. This is an act of vomition and there is 

 also reverse peristalsis. In cardiac choke the obstruction cannot 

 be seen until the oesophagus becomes filled, and then the obstruc- 

 tion is seen in the cervical region. 



In cattle any choke leads to tympanitis of the rumen. There 

 is a great slavering of the mouth, present in all animals, however. 

 Dogs, cats and people have violent fits of coughing, but not the 

 horse. If the choke is not removed, it acts as an irritant and 

 produces inflammation running through the ii'rst and second 



