28 COLICS AND THEIR TREATMENT 



1. — New Growths, Foreign Substances, Etc. — 



Foreign substances, including calculi, hairballs, sand, 

 gravel, or other extraneous and indigestible materials, 

 growths in the form of tumors or abscesses seldom give 

 rise to signs having any definite diagnostic value, and 

 oftentimes it is only through postmortem examination, 

 perhaps following death from some other cause, that we 

 discover the actual nature of a condition that has been 

 conducive to periodic attacks of enteralgia. 



At such time a review of the case furnishes sufficient 

 information to substantiate the belief that intestinal 

 trouble has existed for a considerable period; the his- 

 torical resume of such cases show that the horse has not 

 been, in most instances at least, an easy keeper, has in- 

 clined toward loss of flesh under the least provocation; 

 has been subject to periodic attacks of colic that have 

 been as spontaneous in their disappearance as unaccount- 

 able in origin^ straining intervals, with periods of con- 

 stipation are not infrequently followed by diarrhea. 



Should an abscess develop well toward the rectum, 

 switching and restlessness of the tail and general un- 

 easiness are frequent, especially when the lower bowel 

 is impacted anterior to the obstruction. I well recollect 

 one case of abscess formation in particular that came to 

 my observation and that had its origin as a result of mal 

 address, in which the injury to the rectal mucous mem- 

 brane was associated with symptoms just detailed and 

 which invariably ceased after removal of the crowding 

 fecal collections. 



2. — Obstruction with Paralysis. — Intestinal par- 

 alysis, particularly when involving the lower bowel, has 



