506 DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 



the patient, which must be kept quiet, and these balls will do it. Feed soft, nutritious 

 food, warm water, and no hay, for about one week. 



SUPERPURGATION, DIARRHEA, ETC. 



i An over-relaxed state of the bowels may arise from various 

 causes. In some animals it is favored by peculiarities of conforma- 

 tion, as is seen in washy horses, animals' with long legs, open ribs, 

 and flat sides, with tucked-up bellies, such being liable to purge 

 from the simplest cause. 



Change of feed, especially from dry to green, or unhealthful 

 food, and sometimes through nervous excitement, is apt to produce 

 scouring. It is usually the evidence of something wrong, and the 

 effort of nature to remove it. Some irritant or undigested food being 

 lodged in the bowels, the intestinal fluids are poured out in super- 

 abundance to remove it. The incautious use of purgative medicines 

 is a common cause of superpurgation. It often occurs in the latter 

 stages of debilitating diseases, when it is always an untoward symp- 

 tom, betokening a breaking-up of the vital powers. The presence of 

 little white worms (ascarides) is occasionally the cause. It some- 

 times follows the drinking of cold water when an animal is in a 

 heated state. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms vary according to the nature of the 

 case, and the causes that give rise to it. It may be simply an in- 

 creased fluidity of the contents of the bowels, as is seen in washy or 

 nervous animals, unaccompanied by paili or constitutional disturb- 

 ance ; or, on the other hand, it may be (as in superpurgation) at- 

 tended by pain, expressed by uneasiness, pawing, looking to the 

 flanks, etc. He strains frequently,- and the feces are very watery; 

 the pulse is small and hard. Rapid and increasing weakness and 

 emaciation, loss of appetite, and unless means are speedily adopted 

 to check it, inflammation of the bowels is apt to set in. 



Treatment. — Great care must be exercised in feeding and water- 

 ing washy horses, dry feed being best suited to them. They should 

 not be allowed to drink too freely of water, especially before work. 

 In many cases it may be necessary to give them some starch or 

 chalk mixed up in the feed. In all cases, the main point is to dis- 

 cover the cause. If arising from improper food, it must be changed 

 at once. 



If some irritant be suspected; nature must be assisted in her ef- 

 forts, by giving a quart of linseed or castor, oil, followed up by starch 

 or well-boiled flour gruel, keeping the animal warm. If worms are 

 suspected, or seen in the dung, one or two ounces of spirits of tur- 



