46 Veterinary Elements. 



amount of hay eaten is limited by the time, four to six 

 pounds being the maximum quantity eaten in an hour, 

 should the teeth be in poor shape the time required will 

 be about two hours; the same weight of oats require 

 twenty to forty minutes. Chopping feed does not help 

 animals with sound teeth, it will economize time; on the 

 other hand, it is said to be harmful by decreasing the 

 amount of saliva poured out. If food is given in excess, 

 little of it will spend sufficient time in the stomach, it 

 will be rushed on into the intestines, unfit for absorption, 

 consequently will act as a foreign body, and as a result, 

 cause a typical case of colic or acute indigestion; such 

 results are every day occurrences in the practice of the 

 veterinarian. The stomach will be filled and emptied 

 once to three times during a meal, and is most active 

 when about two-thirds full. Gastric juice in the horse 

 besides containing the constituents already noted, has a 

 ferment known as the diastatic ferment, which has the 

 power of converting starch into sugar, such action is 

 most active during the first two hours of digestion. In 

 the stomach, as a result of the action of the juices, the 

 albumen of the food is peptonized, a process which 

 renders that material capable of being absorbed. The 

 amount of peptone increases after a meal and reaches its 

 maximum three to four hours later. Meals, therefore, 

 must not be crowded too closely together or the results 

 will be the same as if an over-amount of food had been 

 given. Experiments have shown that if oats are fed 

 first, followed as soon as eaten by hay, that they will be 

 forced into the intestine undigested, therefore, the better 

 plan will be to water and hay first, following with oats 



