CHAPTER X. 
GENERAL DISEASES AND INJURIES. 
SIMPLE FEVER. 
q) IMPLE fever has various causes: Sudden changes from heat to cold» 
especially when the system is reduced by too much exercise; bad 
food and air; great changes in the weather; shedding the coat, 
3° which is a very common cause; indigestion, constipation, and vari- 
ous other constitutional derangements, 
Symptoms —A very common symptom is a staring coat, with cold 
legs, perhaps with a shivering fit and trembling of the muscles on the 
shoulder-quarters and flanks; the animal yawns, hangs his head, and seems 
unwilling to move; the pulse weak, variable, and not much increased in 
frequency, and the appetite lost. In the second stage, the coat is smooth 
and the shivering fit is succeeded by a higher temperature throughout the 
body, sometimes increasing to sweating; but generally the skin is hot and 
dry, as well as the mouth and all of the internal organs, especially the mem- 
brane lining the alimentary canal, causing costiveness; urine scanty, high- 
colored, and difficult of passage; pulse and breathing hurried; the animal is 
restless, frequently lying down for a short time, shifting his legs often, 
dropping his ears, and being generally listless and indifferent, though he 
will plunge his nose into cold water and hold in his mouth water to cool 
his tongue, which may seem to be red at the edges and point, the center 
being white and perhaps creased. Should the pulse continue small and 
quick, and the breath and dung offensive, typhoid fever has set in, and to 
the article on that the reader is referred. If the symptoms remain strong 
and not relieved for some length of time, any organ inherently susceptible 
to weakness will suffer functional and organic derangement, and the disor- 
der is called “symptomatic fever.” This is usually due to excess of riding, 
driving, heat or feeding, though it is also caused by injuries about the joints 
and feet, and frequently attends rheumatic troubles. Free feeding ina warm 
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