104 Diseases of the Digestive System. 
evacuations; the pulse and respiration are quick, nose 
dry and hot, mucous membranes injected, great thirst, 
but no appetite, gradual sinking, and death. 
Treatment must be careful and persistent. 
Constipation or Costiveness is the result of tor- 
pidity or comparative inaction of the bowels, the animal 
passing no feces, or, otherwise, they are voided with 
much effort and pain, and are dry, small, and hard. The 
disorder is common to animals under confinement, es- 
pecially when fed solely on animal food. Constipation, 
associated with fever, is one of the marked symptoms of 
liver disorder, but constipation pure and simple is not 
necessarily attended by fever, neither is it of long dura- 
tion, and is amenable to ordinary remedies. 
Treatment.—Change of diet is almost always essential. 
The flesh food should be reduced and the deficiency 
made up by vegetables, and a weekly feed of boiled 
liver will be helpful, conjoined with regular feeding times 
and proper exercise. In some cases the accumulation of 
feeces in the rectum is large, producing colic, and they 
may be felt on manipulating the abdomen by the hand as 
well as being evident in the bulging of the anus. Accu- 
mulations of this extreme nature sometimes prove fatal 
within a few hours in house and pet dogs. Removal of 
the accumulation of ingesta must be effected by means 
of the oiled finger, or when necessary broken down by 
he handle of a spoon, assisted by injections of warm 
water. A dose of the castor-oil mixture (see Aperients) 
should follow, and subsequently an occasional dose 
should be given if the disorder does not abate. 
Impaction of the Bowels by means of various sub- 
stances, as a bone of considerable size, or several pieces, 
a stone, accumulations of hardened feces, or fibrous 
vegetable matter, which have been swallowed, constitutes 
an aggravated form of constipation. The formation of a 
calculus is of rare occurrence, but one such proves to 
be the cause now and again. Colic, constipation, and 
sometimes vomiting are present, especially after oleagi- 
nous purgatives have been administered. Enemas, 
assisted by external manipulation of the abdomen, often 
