58 DISEASES OF THE HOBSE. 



bowels and favor the escape of wind. Blankets wrung out of hot 

 water do much to afford relief; they should be renewed every five 

 or ten minutes and covered with a dry woolen blanket. This form of 

 colic is much more fatal than cramp colic, and requires prompt and 

 persistent treatment. It is entirely unsafe to predict the result, some 

 apparently mild attacks going on to speedy death, while others that 

 appear at the onset to be very severe yielding rapidly to treatment. 

 Do not cease your efforts until you are sure the animal is dead. In 

 these severe cases puncturing of the bowels in the most prominent 

 (distended) part by means of a small trocar and cannula or with a 

 needle of a hypodermic syringe, thus allowing the escape of gas, has 

 often saved life, and such punctures, if made with a clean, sharp in- 

 strument that is not allowed to remain in the horse too long, are 

 accompanied by little danger and do more to quickly relieve the 

 patient than any other treatment. 



(4) Spasmodic, or cramp, colic. — This is the name given to that 

 form of colic produced by contraction, or spasm, of a portion of the 

 small intestines. It is produced by indigestible food ; large drinks of 

 cold water when the animal is warm ; driving a heated horse through 

 deep streams; cold rains; drafts of cold air, etc. Unequal distribu- 

 tion of or interference with the nervous supply here produces cramp 

 of the bowels, the same as external cramps are produced. Spasmodic 

 colic is much more frequently met with in high-bred, nervous horses 

 than in coarse, lymphatic ones. 



Symptoms. — These should be carefully studied in order to diagnose 

 this from other forms of colic requiring quite different treatment. 

 Spasmodic colic always begins suddenly. If feeding, the horse is seen 

 to stop abruptly, stamp impatiently, and probably look back. He 

 soon evinces more acute pain, and this is shown by pawing, suddenly 

 lying down, rolling, and getting up. During the period of pain the 

 intestinal sounds, as heard by applying the ear over the flank, are 

 louder than in health. There is then an interval of ease; he will 

 resume feeding and appear to be entirely well. In a little while, how- 

 ever, the pains return and are increased in severity, only to again pass 

 off for a time. As the attack progresses these intervals of ease become 

 shorter and shorter, and pain may be continuous, though even now 

 there are exacerbations of pain. Animals suffering from this form of 

 colic evince the most intense pain ; they throw themselves down, roll 

 over and over, jump up, whirl about, drop down again, paw, or strike 

 rather, with the front feet, steam and sweat, and make frequent 

 attempts to pass their urine. Only a small amount of water is passed 

 at a time, and this is due to the bladder being so frequently emptied. 

 These attempts to urinate are often regarded by horsemen as symp- 

 toms of trouble of the kidneys or bladder. In reality they are only 

 one of the many ways in which the horse expresses the presence of 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



