298 THE COMMON COLICS OF THE HORSE 



described in Chapter IX. For these, therefore, the 

 reader may be referred to that chapter. In discussing 

 the causes, however, we mentioned one point which 

 again presents itself when dealing with diagnosis. When 

 the impacted pelvic flexure is present in the pelvis, then 

 it is fair to assume we have a condition of flexion in 

 connection with the suprasternal and diaphragmatic 

 flexures. 



Prognosis and Treatment. — For the whole of this 

 the reader may again be directed to Chapter IX., with 

 just the additional remark that when an impacted pelvic 

 flexure is found in the pelvis, then, in addition to the 

 administration of the usual purgatives and stimulants, it 

 should be part of our treatment to place it back into the 

 abdominal cavity in order to relieve the abnormal flexion 

 we know its false position must be causing anteriorly. 



General Remarks. — As we said at the commence- 

 ment of the chapter, this condition of flexion or abnormal 

 bending of some portion of the bowel becomes of especial 

 interest when we are conducting autopsies on cases dead 

 of subacute obstructive colic. Unless we are prepared 

 for the possible existence of such a condition, it may 

 easily be overlooked, and the real cause of death remain 

 obscure. In other words, when an animal has suc- 

 cumbed, showing nothing but the dull symptoms of 

 subacute colic during the whole of the illness, and the 

 autopsy reveals nothing in the way of torsion, enteritis, 

 or other pronounced lesion, then one, unless he is cogni- 

 zant of this condition, is apt to be left in wonder as to 

 what the actual cause of death could have been. It is 

 then that a knowledge of this condition helps one out. 

 Either a pronounced bend, or ' kink,' as I have seen it 

 elsewhere described, is found in a position where such 

 should not be, or one of the normal flexures is discovered 



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