Special report on diseases of the horse / by Drs. Pearson [and others].

Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Special report on diseases of the horse / by Drs. Pearson [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    70/690 (page 64)
    water in small quantities. After a horse has purged from twelve to twenty-four hours it can mostly be stopped, or “ set,” as horsemen say, by feeding on dry oats and hay. Should the purging continue, however, it is best treated by giving demulcent drinks—linseed tea and oatmeal or wheat-hour gruel. After this the astringents spoken of for diarrhea may be given. Besides this the horse is to receive brandy in doses of from 2 to 4 ounces, with milk and eggs, four or five times a day. Laminitis “ founder” is a frequent sequel of superpurgation and is to be guarded against by removing the shoes and standing the horse on moist sawdust or some similar bedding. Dysentery.—This disease, sometimes called u bloody flux,” is an intestinal disease attended with fever, occasional abdominal pains, and fluid discharges, mingled with blood. Discharges in dysentery are coffee colored or bloody, liquid, and very offensive in odor, and passed with much straining. It is rare in the horse, but is sometimes quite prevalent among foals. Causes.—Probably the most common cause is keeping young horses in particular for a long time on low, wet, marshy pastures, without other feed (a diarrhea of long standing sometimes terminates in dysen- tery); exposure during cold, wet weather; decomposed foods; stagnant water that contains large quantities of decomposing vegetable matter; low, damp, and dark stables, particularly if crowded; the existence of some disease, as tuberculosis of the abdominal form. In suckling foals it may come from feeding the dam on irritant foods or from disease of the udder. In other foals it may be produced by exposure to cold and damp, to irritant food, or to worms. Symptoms.—The initial symptom is a chill, which probably escapes notice in the majority of instances. The discharges are offensive and for the most part liquid, although it is common to find lumps of solid fecal matter floating in this liquid portion; shreds of mucous membrane and blood may be passed, or the evacuations may be muco-purulent; there is much straining, and, rarely, symptoms of abdominal pain; the subject lies down a great deal; the pulse is quickened and the temper- ature elevated. Thirst is a prominent symptom. In the adult, death rarely follows under two to three weeks, but in foals the disease may end in death after a few days. Treatment.—This is most unsatisfactory, and I am inclined to place more dependence upon the care and feed than any medication that may be adopted. First of all the horse must be placed in a dry, warm, yet well-ventilated stable; the skin is to receive attention by frequent rub- bings of the surface of the body, with blankets, and bandages to the legs. The water must be pure and given in small quantities; the food, that which is light and easily digested. Medicinally, give at first a light dose of castor oil, about one-half pint, to which has been added 2