Nursing of Sick Animals. 153 



patient must not be put to work unless quite recovered; 

 it is a good safe rule to never work a horse that misses 

 a feed or two until the cause is found and removed. 

 The animal that does not eat cannot reasonably be 

 expected to work either in the traces or making flesh 

 and milk. 



Feeding Sick Animals. It must be borne in mind that 

 food or drink should not be forced on sick stock, that 

 what food is presented should be tempting, to be so it 

 must be fresh, all traces of the last offering having been 

 removed, in fact if an animal does not clean up its allow- 

 ance within a reasonable time the materials should be 

 removed so as to avoid tainting the feed box. The same 

 rule applies to the drinking water. 



Laxative food is indicated in sickness, with few excep- 

 tions, in fact those cases laid up on account of wounds 

 need laxative food and a reduction in quantity. Variety 

 counts for a great deal with the sick animal, for such 

 purposes boiled food, bran mashes, grass, carrots, pota- 

 toes, small green wheat, oats, corn, etc., may be used in 

 limited quantities. Milk and eggs are also of value, but 

 will have to be given in a drench as a rule. The bran 

 mash should be made as follows: Scald a pail, throw out 

 the water, put in a gallon of bran and a tablespoonful of 

 salt, add two to three pints of boiling water, depending 

 on the consistency desired, mix well and cover up for 15 

 minutes, when it may be placed before the patient. A 

 tablespoonful or two of powdered ginger added to a. bran 

 mash makes a nice feed for a tired or over driven horse, 

 and should be given before oats are offered. Horses will 

 rarely burn themselves, they do not care for sloppy 



