BOTS.
(Gastrophilis)
Effect of Bots on the Health of Horses
Although the presence of bots inside of a horse can be of no possible advantage to him, their presence, when in small numbers, as a rule produce very little or no ill effect in the horse, but if their number be large they cannot help being a source of debility and irritation. In practically all cases they produce indigestion, especially among young horses, also loss of condition, colic and even death.
Cause.—Bot flies lay their eggs during the autumn months on the skin and hair of the horse. These eggs on becoming hatched (in from 20 to 25 days) produce small worms which irritate the skin by their movements and thus cause the horse to lick them off and to take them into his mouth, with the result that they gain access to various parts of the intestinal canal. The bot having selected its place of residence, attaches itself to the membrane lining the stomach and intestines, and derives its sustenance during its stay from the wound made by its hooks. In the summer the larva, after living inside the horse for about ten months, quits its hold and is expelled with the feces. Having concealed itself near the surface of the ground it becomes changed into a chrysalis from which the gadfly issues after an inactive existence of from thirty to forty days. The female fly becomes impregnated, lays her eggs on those parts of the horse from which they can be most easily licked off, and thus completes her cycle of existence.
Symptoms.—Membranes about the eyes and mouth are very pale, as though the animal had lost a large quantity of blood; they will also be subject to colicky attacks, hair faded, dull, rough appearance, appetite poor and manifests a pot belly.
Prevention.—The best means of prevention are spraying your horses with the following fly repellant: Crude Carbolic Acid, 10%; Oil of Tar, 25%; Crude Oil, 65%. Mix thoroughly. This prevents the gadfly from depositing her eggs on the animals.
Treatment.—Withhold all food for twenty-four hours, then administer Oil of Turpentine, one ounce; place in a gelatin capsule and give with capsule gun. Follow this in six hours with a physic consisting of Aloin, two drams; Ginger, two drams. Place in a gelatin capsule and give with capsule gun. Repeat the above treatment in a week or ten days to insure the expulsion of Bots that might have escaped the first treatment.