38 SPECIAL EQUINE THERAPY 



Cases of choke resulting because of a dilatation in some 

 portion of the esophageal tube appear less precipitately. 

 In some instances it requires the lapse of several days 

 before a complete "choke" is established, the animal hav- 

 ing continued to add to the obstruction by eating at 

 times. (In spasmodic choke the patient refuses all food, 

 as a rule. ) When enough food has collected in the dilated 

 portion of the esophagus to block the passage the animal 

 begins to show symptoms. These sjonptoms, however, 

 are not violent. There is now no inclination to eat. There 

 may be a slight degree of retching, accompanied by mild 

 muscular contractions in the cervical region. 



If the choke is located in the cervical portion of the 

 esophagus, it can usually be detected by palpation. In 

 choke resulting from esophageal dilatation the mass of 

 food is considerable; enough so that it can be both seen 

 and felt in the form of a bulging area in the esophageal 

 canal. When choke from dilatation has existed for sev- 

 eral days food is regurgitated, the nostrils are smeared 

 with it, and an offensive odor emanates from the oral and 

 nasal cavities. In some cases the animal continues to eat 

 even then. At the end of variable periods of time the 

 patient succumbs either from an attack of inspiration 

 pneumonia or from gangrenous processes involving the 

 gullet. Choke from dilatation may, under some condi- 

 tions, be only a partial choke. 



Prognosis. The prognosis is favorable in aU cases of 

 spasmodic choke not complicated by injuries sustained 

 at the hands of persons endeavoring to correct the condi- 

 tion by means of probangs or other heroic treatment. 

 The prognois is grave when such treatment has been 

 administered. 



The prognosis in cases of choke resulting from dilata- 

 tion of the esophagus is always doubtful. Eventually all 

 of these cases terminate fatally. A few attacks are sur- 



