102 DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND BOWELS 



parietal or visceral; (i) irritation of the pharynx (foreign 

 bodies, tumors, catarrh); (j) diseases of the esophagus (rare), 

 or enlarged tubercular mediastinal lymph glands in the ox 

 compressing the esophagus. 



Central vomition, which is rare in animals, is due to: 

 (a) Injuries and diseases of the brain (medulla) ; (b) uremia 

 and cholemia; (c) certain poisons (apomorphin, arecalin, - 

 chloroform, veratrin); (d) sea-sickness. 



Symptoms. — Vomiting is often ushered in by symptoms of 

 ■restlessness, retching, salivation and dyspnea. While in cat- 

 tle a regurgitation of paunch contents is often not associated 

 with these prodromal symptoms, the stomach contents being 

 ejected without suffering, in some cases the act of vomiting 

 is distressing. The ox is restless, trips from side to side and 

 switches its tail, may get up and down, arch the back, draw 

 its feet up under the body, violently contract the muscles of 

 the abdomen, and through the open mouth and nose discharge 

 in a stream one or two gallons of stomach contents. The 

 horse seems anxious, restless, covered with sweat, draws its 

 legs up under the abdomen, contracts the muscles of the 

 neck, extends the head, draws up the muscles of the abdomen 

 and ejects through the nostrils, and in part through the 

 mouth, the stomach contents. 



The act of vomiting may occur only once or be repeated. 

 Repeated vomition speaks for gastritis, peritonitis or occlu- 

 sion of the bowels. In rare instances it may be due to dis- 

 turbance in the central nervous system. After the act the 

 patient is more or less distressed and if the vomiting is 

 continuous quite exhausted. 



In the ox the ejected mass consists mainly of paunch con- 

 tents recognizable by its characteristic odor. In the horse 

 it is made up of partially digested, fluid stomach contents 

 sometimes mixed with blood. The reaction is decidedly acid. 



Diagnosis. — Obviously it is not difficult to recognize that 

 vomiting exists. It is not always an easy matter, however, 

 to determine its cause. Where the act is the result of a mere 

 overloading of the stomach it is usually not repeated and the 

 animal permanently relieved. On the other hand its con- 

 tinuance speaks for some pathological change in the stomach 



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