SUPBRPURGATION. 63 



cold nights, or low, damp stables. Some horses are predisposed to 

 scour and are called " washy " by horsemen ; they are those with long 

 bodies, long legs, and narrow, flat sides. Horses of this build are 

 almost sure to scour if fed or watered immediately before being put to 

 work. Fast or road work, of course, aggravates this trouble. Diar- 

 rhea may exist as a complication of other diseases as pneumonia and 

 influenza, for instance, and again during the diseases of the liver. 



The symptoms are the frequent evacuations of liquid stools, with or 

 without pronounced abdominal pain, loss of appetite, emaciation, etc. 



Treatment is at times very simple, but requires the utmost care and 

 judgment. If due to faulty food or water it is sufficient to change 

 these. If it results from some irritant in the intestines, this is best 

 gotten rid of by the administration of an oleaginous purge, for which 

 nothing is better than castor oil, although raw linseed oil may be used 

 if the case is not severe. The diarrhea often disappears with the ces- 

 sation of the operation of the medicine. If, however, purging con- 

 tinues, it may be checked by giving wheat flour in water, starch 

 water, white-oak bark tea, chalk, opium, or half-dram doses of sul- 

 phuric acid in one-half pint of water twice or thrice daily. Good 

 results follow the use of powdered opium. 2 drams and subnitrate of 

 bismuth 1 ounce, repeated three times a day. It should be remem- 

 bered in all cases to look to the water and feed the horse is receiving. 

 If either of these is at fault it is at once to be discontinued. We 

 should feed sparingly of good, easily digested foods. With that 

 peculiar build of nervous horses that scour on the road but little can 

 be done, as a rule. They should be watered and fed as long as possi- 

 ble before going on a drive. If there is much flatulency accompany- 

 ing diarrhea, baking soda or other alkaline medicines may effect a 

 cure, while if the discharges have a very disagreeable odor, this can 

 be corrected by 1 ounce of sulphite of soda or dram doses of creolin in 

 water, repeated twice a day. Be slow to resort to either the vege- 

 table or mineral astringents, since the majority of cases will yield f^o 

 change of food and water or the administration of oils. Afterwards 

 feed upon wheat-flour gruel or other light foods. The body should 

 be warmly clothed. 



SupEepuegation. — This is the designation of that diarrhea, or flux 

 from the bowels, that, at times, is induced by and follows the action 

 of a physic. It is accompanied by much irritation or even inflamma- 

 tion of the bowels and is always of a serious character. Although in 

 rare instances it follows from a usual dose of physic and where every 

 precaution has been taken, it is most likely to result under the follow- 

 ing circumstances: Too large a dose of physic; giving physics to 

 horses suffering from pneumonia, influenza, or other debilitating dis- 

 eases ; riding or driving a horse when purging ; exposure or drafts of 

 cold air ; or giving large quantities of cold water while the physic is 



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