380 
PROTRUSION OF THE RECTUM IN PIGS. 
it bad been given. I directly imagined that was the cause of her 
getting so much worse, and, on inquiry, found she coughed while 
taking it ; but they would not let her head down for fear of losing 
the physic. I then set the owner’s mind at rest as to pleuro-pneu- 
monia. I administered some more medicine, and applied a blister 
the extent of the trachea, when she gradually recovered. 
If you think the above cases worthy of insertion in your Journal, 
they are at your service, and believe me, 
Your’s truly. 
June 10th, 1848. 
PROTRUSION OF THE RECTUM IN PIGS. 
By John Nelson, V.S., High field, Sheffield. 
SEEING that no writer hitherto has given the proper treatment 
for protrusion of the rectum in pigs, and knowing, as I do, the 
frequent occurrence of the disease, particularly in towns, where 
their food is much different from what it is in the country, many 
pigs must be lost to the owners from this disease. And since 
they are generally in a lean state, and worth little or nothing for 
slaughter, it is of importance to know that, under proper treatment, 
they can be mostly restored to health. 
The CAUSES in general are, unwholesome food given too 
abruptly, and injuries. I have known many pigs purchased in the 
market, and carried home by the middle of the body under the 
owner’s arms, to have the rectum protruded the next day. Over- 
driving, farrowing, &c. ; any injury that relaxes the parts, such as 
blows on the abdomen or loins, the giving of strong broths made 
from bones, or the intestines, &c. of other animals, such as come 
from the slaughter-houses, &c. without being mixed with a proper 
portion of other food, and gradually introduced. Young pigs are 
much sooner diseased by the above food than old ones. 1 know 
a butcher who purchased four pigs from three to four months old, 
and commenced feeding them with the refuse of the slaughter- 
house too suddenly, and they had the whole of their recta pro- 
truded in three days. Indeed, any kind of strong gelatinous food, 
given too abruptly, produces the disease more than any other cause. 
I have seldom seen obstructions of the bowels produce it. And 
yet it is rare that I have not a patient of the kind on my sick list. 
TREATMENT. — Suppose a pig to be found in the morning with 
protrusion of the rectum, the first inquiry should be, if the pig ate 
