DISEASES OP THE DIGESTIVE OEGANS. C5 



Thoracic choke can be treated only by means of the introduction 

 of oils and mucilaginous drinks and the careful use of the probang. 



STHICTURE OF THE ESOPHAGUS. 



This is due to corrosive medicines, previous choking (accompanied 

 ■with lacerations, which, in healing, narrow the passage), or pressure 

 on the gullet by tumors. In the majority of cases of stricture, dila- 

 tation of the gullet in front of the constricted portion soon occurs. 

 This dilatation is the result of the frequent accumulation of solid feed 

 above the constriction. Little can be done in either of these instances 

 except to give sloppy or liquid feed. 



SACULAR DILATATION OF THE ESOPHAGUS. 



This follows choking, and is due to stretching or rupture of the 

 muscular coat of the gullet, allowing the internal, or mucous, coat 

 to protrude through the lacerated muscular walls. Such a dilatation, 

 or pouch, may gradually enlarge from the frequent imprisonment 

 of feed. When liquids are taken, the solid materials are partially 

 washed out of the pouch. 



The symptoms are as follows : The horse is able to swallow a few 

 mouthfuls without apparent difficulty; then he will stop feeding, 

 paw, contract the muscles of his neck, and eject a portion of the feed 

 through his nose or mouth, or it will gradually work down to the 

 stomach. As the dilatation thus empties itself the symptoms grad- 

 ually subside, only to reappear when he has again taken solid feed. 

 Liquids pass without any, or but little, inconvenience. Should this 

 dilatation exist in the cervical region, surgical interference may 

 sometimes prove effectual ; if in the thoracic portion, nothing can 

 be done, and the patient rapidly passes from haiid to hand by " swap- 

 ping," until, at no distant date, the contents of the sac become too 

 firm to be dislodged as heretofore, and the animal succumbs. 



DISEASES OF THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES. 



As a rule it is most difficult to distinguish between diseases of the 

 stomach and of the intestines of the horse. The reason for this is 

 that the stomach is relatively small. It lies away from the abdom- 

 inal wall, and so pressure from without can not be brought to bear 

 upon it to reveal sensitiveness or pain. Nor does enlargement, or 

 distention, of the stomach produce visible alteration in the form of 

 the abdomen of the horse. Moreover, it is a rule to which there are 

 few exceptions, that an irritant or cause of disease of the stomach 

 acts likewise upon the intestines, so that it is customary to find them 

 similarly deranged. For these reasons it is logical to discuss together 

 36444°— 16 5 



