96 SPECIAL EQUINE THERAPY 



from thrombosis of the mesenteric arteries is well under- 

 stood, the diagnosis of such forms of colic is not easily 

 made positive. Colic resulting from thrombotic mesen- 

 teric arteries is fairly characteristic in its semeiology, yet 

 the diagnosis can be made only problematically in clinics. 

 Thrombotic colics are recurrent, always. 



Symptoms. There is practically only one form of colic 

 resulting from thrombosis that can be diagnosed with any 

 degree of positiveness, and that is the form which results 

 under "1" mentioned above. A colic of this character 

 comes on with no regard for digestive periods; it may 

 come just before a feed, or it may come at midnight or 

 any hour of the day. The symptoms hardly vary from 

 those of a typical spasmodic colic, but there is always 

 quite active peristaltic sounds to be heard in the small 

 intestine. This active peristalsis in the absence of diar- 

 rhoea may be said to be practically diagnostic of this 

 form of colic. If, in addition to this, there is a history 

 of previous similar attacks, colics occurring at variable 

 hours from no apparent cause (such as change of feed, 

 etc.), the diagnosis is made sure. 



This is the one form of colic in which exercise is justi- 

 fied as part of the treatment. The horse, by being ridden 

 or driven, so raises its blood pressure that it may have 

 the effect of disintegrating the thrombus, or of hastening 

 the establishment of a collateral circulation. Either ac- 

 complishment terminates the attack of colic. This occurs 

 in from a few minutes to a few hours. 



Medicinal treatment includes morphin, or tincture of 

 opium, and other anodyne agents. Cathartics are contra- 

 indicated in this type of thrombotic colic. 



When the obstruction is not removed promptly, or if 

 collateral circulation does not become rapidly established 

 in the neighboring vessels, the attack of colic is pro- 

 longed. At the end of four or five hours a degree of 



