PREVENTION, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT ty 



their lumen. In mechanical obstruction peristalsis persists; in 

 paralytic, it ceases. Symptoms of shock and often fever are present 

 in these cases. In almost all of them cathartics form the worst 

 possible treatment. 



Colic may be produced by various forms of obstruction of the* 

 bowels. Thus impaction of the colon or rectum is caused by in- 

 digestible food and may be recognized by examination per rectum 

 and by the tendency of the animal to press the hind quarters against 

 the wall and by straining. The colic is apt to be mild and persistent. 

 Powerful cathartics are generally out of place and our endeavors 

 should be directed toward improving the tone of the bowel, liquefy- 

 ing the feces and removal of the same per rectum, while stimulating 

 peristalsis through rectal injections. Linseed oil (Oi) may be alter- 

 nated with Glauber's salts (lb. ss-i), and strychnine (gr. i-ii) with 

 atropine (gr. ss) in solution may be dropped on the tongue thrice 

 daily. In addition to manual removal of the feces and soap suds 

 enemata, dried oxgall (§iv in i pint of water) or salts (lb. ii, with 

 glycerin, §viii; in saturated solution), may be injected high into 

 the rectum. It may be necessary to empty the rectum several times 

 daily by hand. Barium chloride may be used if other methods fail. 



Colic is caused sometimes by enteroliths. A diagnosis can 

 only be made if the stone is felt per rectum and surgical removal is 

 required. Colic due to sand, as shown by passage of the same, may 

 yield to a physic ball. Volulus, or incarceration of the bowels in 

 hernia, may be detected in some cases by rectum or by examining 

 the abdominal rings. These also only yield to surgical treatment. 

 Invagination is often shown first by diarrhea, with passage of 

 mucus and blood, and can rarely be detected per rectum. The 

 course is chronic. Elevation of the hind quarters and the use of 

 enormous warm water enemata and purgatives — as an aloes ball 

 or barium chloride — may be successful, although the latter may 

 aggravate the condition. Intussusception or invagination has been 

 cured in human medicine by the injection of air (through a cath- 



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