SO-CALLED COLICS OF THE HORSE 101 



Treatment. — The treatment is practically the same as 

 that suggested for acute tympany to relieve bloating. This 

 may be followed by the treatment. advised for indigestion 

 in cattle. Where there is reason to believe that the inter- 

 mittent bloating is due to some foreign body in the stomach, 

 rumenotomy may be performed for relief. This is especially 

 indicated in periodic tympany of calves. 



SO-CALLED COLICS OF THE HORSE. 



The term colic is a collective one and applies to all con- 

 ditions which cause abdominal pain. Colic is therefore a 

 symptom and not a disease. While most abdominal pains 

 come from the stomach and bowel they may also eminate 

 from a number of other organs. Acute diseases of the peri- 

 toneum, liver, kidneys, urinary bladder, uterus, ovaries, 

 esophagus and pleura (rarely) may, too, be accompanied by 

 symptoms usually termed "colic." To consider all con- 

 ditions in the horse which produce more or less violent 

 abdominal pain a specific disease, and to treat them all more 

 or less alike, is unscientific and a menace to the patient. 



In the older literature abdominal pain due to stomach and 

 bowel disorders were called "true colics," while abdominal 

 pains originating in other organs were known as "false 

 colics." 



Were it possible in all cases to make an accurate diagnosis 

 the clinical term "colic" would disappear from veterinary 

 as it has from human medicine. 



The principal conditions which produce severe gastro- 

 intestinal pain named in order of frequency are: (a) Impac- 

 tions of masses of feces in the small and large intestines. 

 (b) Impactions of the small or large intestines complicated 

 with displacement of. the bowel, (c) Distention of the 

 stomach with food masses or gas, and (d) A primary inflam- 

 mation of the walls of the stomach and bowels. 



Simple impactions, impactions with displacement and 

 distention of the stomach may become complicated by 

 rupture of the wall leading to peritonitis or peritoneal 

 sepsis. Following displacements enteritis and peritonitis 



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