414 DISEASES OF DIGESTION. 



vomition being almost impossible to the horse, as a healthy means 

 of relieving the stomach, he is rendered by this inability, peculiarly 

 liable to rupture that organ, an accident which is not infrequently 

 the fatal termination of the disorder we are considering. 



The usual CAUSE of this complaint is the eating of food which 

 is liable to ferment in the stomach, especially when it has been 

 imperfectly masticated. Wind-sucking, and stricture, or blocking 

 up of the gut by a calculus, at its exit from the stomach, may also 

 give rise to it. 



The SYMPTOMS are those of very aggravated colic. There is 

 a certain amount of distension of the bowels, though not to the 

 same extent as in flatulent colic. The gaseous distension is 

 plainly seen to be under the ribs, forward in fact ; the animal 

 may now stand persistently with the elbows turned out to in- 

 crease the capacity of his chest; a gurgling sound is heard in the 

 oesophagus due to eructations of gas, followed, perhaps, by 

 vomiting ; saliva flows from the mouth ; the expression is one of 

 the greatest anxiety ; head symptoms may now appear. 



The TREATMENT should be the same as for flatulent colic. If 

 the intestine also is distended, it should be pimctured (p. 688), so 

 as to favour the escape of gas from the stomach. 



Worm Colic. See jj. 401. 



Inflammation of the Intestines {Enteritis). 



NATURE AND CAUSES.— Formerly, acute abdominal pain was 

 generally divided into colic and enteritis (inflammation of the 

 intestines) ; the usual distinction being that the pain in colic was 

 intermittent, and in enteritis continuous and much more severe. 

 Williams states that enteritis is the most rapidly fatal disease to 

 which the horse is liable. Its occurrence was ascribed to all sorts 

 of different causes, such as chill, over-fatigue, twists and folds of 

 the intestines (p. 418), calculus, indigestion, colic, worms, poisons, 

 bacteria, constipation, etc. It is therefore evident that the term 

 enteritis has served to cover several different disorders. The most 

 common cause of enteritis in the horse is the intestinal parasite. 

 The continuously acute pain and frequently fatal results of twists 

 and folds of the intestines are often accountable for these diseases, 

 being mistaken for enteritis. True enteritis is regarded as in- 

 flammation of the mucous membrane of the intestines, unconnected 

 with chemical or mechanical irritants. In olden days, when the 



