80 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
by milk punches, eggs, beef tea, oatmeal gruel, etc. In spite of the 
best care and treatment, however, dysentery is likely to prove fatal. 
In the case of nurslings, the dam should be placed in a healthy con- 
dition or, failing in this, milk should be had from another mare or 
from a cow. 
GASTROENTERITIS. 
This condition consists in an inflammation of the stomach and 
intestines. , Instead of being confined to the mucous, or lining, mem- 
brane, as in gastrointestinal catarrh, the inflammatory process ex- 
tends deeper and may even involve the entire thickness of the wall of 
the organ. 
This disease may be caused by, irritant feed, hot drinks, sudden 
chilling, moldy or decayed feeds, foul water, parasites, or by chemical 
poisons. It may also complicate some general diseases, especially 
infectious diseases, as anthrax, influenza, rabies, or petechial fever. 
Long-continued obstruction of the bowels or displacement resulting 
in death are preceded by enteritis. 
Symptoms.—The symptoms differ somewhat with the cause and 
depend also, to some extent, upon the chief location of the inflamma- 
tion. In general the animal stops eating or eats but little; it shows 
colicky pain; fever develops; the pulse and respiration. become rapid; 
the mucous membrane becomes red; the mouth is hot and dry. 
Pressure upon the abdomen may cause pain. Intestinal sounds can - 
not be heard at the flank. There is constipation in the earlier stages 
that is followed later by diarrhea. The extremities become cold. 
Sometimes the feces are coated with or contain shreds of fibrin, 
looking like scraps of dead membrane, and they have an evil, putrid 
odor. If the disease is caused by moldy or damaged feed there may 
be great muscular weakness, with partial paralysis of the throat, as 
shown by inability to swallow. If chemical poisons are the cause, 
this fact.may be shown by the sudden onset of the disease, the. his- 
tory of the administration of a poison or the entire absence of known 
cause, the rapid development of threatening symptoms, the involve- 
ment of a series of animals in the absence of a contagious disease, 
and the special symptoms and alterations known to be produced by 
certain poisons. To make this chain of evidence complete, the poison 
may be discovered in the organs of the horse by chemical analysis. 
In nearly all cases of gastroenteritis there is nervous depression. — 
The poisons that are most irritant to the digestive tract are arsenic, 
corrosive sublimate, sugar of lead, sulphate of copper, sulphate or 
chlorid of zinc, lye, or other strong alkalies, mineral acids, and, 
among the vegetable poisons, tobacco, lobelia, and water hemlock. 
Treatment.—The treatment will depend upon the cause, but if this 
can not be detected, certain general indications may be observed. In 
all cases feed should be given in small amounts and should be of the 
