EXAMINATION OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS. 39 



some even less. Diarrhoea is a catarrh of the intestines, and may 

 be due to a variety of causes, such as irregular diet, cold, or to 

 some infectious disease (distemper), some irritant in the food ; but 

 it may also be caused by laxative agents independent of catarrh. 



Costiveness. Constipation is common in all old dogs and in 

 starved animals; it is also frequently seen in animals that vomit 

 their food and in all peritoneal inflammations. 



Complete constipation is seen in all cases of obstruction of the 

 bowels due to twisting of those organs, invagination, hernia, for- 

 eign bodies, loss of the vermicular motions, and in all copious 

 exudations from the peritoneum. 



Pain during evacuation of the bowels (tenesmus) is seen in 

 inflammation or obstruction of the lower bowels or from the 

 presence of an abscess, from enlargement of the prostate, from 

 splinters of bone or wood in the lower bowel, or from enlarge- 

 ment of the rectal lymphatic glands. 



The amount of excrement passed in a given time by an animal 

 depends on the quantity and quality of the food that the animal 

 has taken. In au ordinary sized dog fed on bread the amount of 

 feces passed amounts to 20 per cent, of the amount taken; but if 

 the same animal is put on a flesh-diet the amount of feces is only 

 about 5 per cent. (Ellenberger). In diarrhoea the relative amount 

 is changed; for in this condition the intestinal juices secreted to 

 aid digestion are not reabsorbed, but remain with the feces and 

 are thrown out. 



After an obstinate constipation the amount of fluids is also 

 greatly increased, and with it there is also a very offensive smell, 

 due to decomposition of the feces and to the various excrementary 

 matter that has remained in the bowels. 



The shape and size of the stools are a rather important matter 

 to consider. In normal health they are cylindrical in form, hard 

 or soft, according to the diet; on meat-diet they are black, on 

 meat and fat mixed they are dark gray-brown, and on bread-and- 

 milk diet they are yellow-brpwn or almost clay-color. If the 

 animal has eaten much bones, they are whitish. The alimentary 

 matter cannot be distinguished with the naked eye, except bread, 

 which is passed almost as it is taken into the stomach. Of course, 

 there are bodies, such as wood, bony matter, hair, earth, etc., 

 which can also be seen in the feces. Under the microscope 



