SURGICAL TREATMENT OF COLICS 75 



commonplace every-day trivialities, but when one scans 

 statistics of mortalities and ontoward sequelae, we vet- 

 erinarians may be thankful that our animal patients are 

 not suitable subjects for such operations. 



The diseases of the small intestines found in the horse 

 with sufficient frequency to be called common diseases 

 are: 



Enteritis 



Enteritis may be local, from a local obstruction, but 

 more often it affects a more extensive area. The whole 

 tract including the stomach and large intestines may be af- 

 fected. It probably always has its origin in faulty ali- 

 mentation, but early in the course of the pain bacteria 

 play the important role and thus produce a condition 

 that no surgical operation could benefit. 



Obstruction 



Obstipations from fibrous forage or unnatural food 

 may cause obstruction at one point or over a consider- 

 able portion of the small bowels. Circumscribed obstruc- 

 tions may cause pouching of the gut at the point affected 

 and thus leave a place for future accumulations. Clay, 

 sand, or foreign bodies may lodge in the small intestine 

 of dogs and in ruminants, foreign bodies may pass the 

 fourth stomach and lodge at or behind the pylorus. Here 

 again we cannot successfully operate for them even if 

 we should eventually succeed in diagnosing these cases. 



Volvulus and Invaginations 



Volvulus and invaginations are common enough to 

 warrant a very close study of the early symptoms. And 

 it is a pity we do not diagnose them early, because here 

 we have conditions which could be relieved by extrinsic 



