THE FIRST STAGE OF FLATULENT COLIC.
This is peculiarly the affection of old age. Horses, though not so liable to hoven as are horned cattle, nevertheless may be blown out if permitted to gorge upon moist, green food. Flatulent colic in the vast majority of instances, however, is not caused by any special fodder, but springs from disordered digestion living for years upon stimulating diet, breathing a tainted atmosphere, being now weakened by a long fast, then distressed by a too abundant supply; next exhausted by a tedious journey, and subsequently cramped by days of enforced stagnation,—all of these things ultimately tell upon the strong body of our domesticated quadruped. The stomach, as the earliest evidence of general debility, loses its tonicity. It cannot digest a full meal; the provender ferments, gas is released, and flatulent colic is the consequence.
A traditionary belief in the stable asserts this disorder is provoked by crib-biting, wind-sucking, etc. etc. The author is indebted to Mr. Ernes, a most successful veterinary surgeon of Dockhead, for the earliest comprehension of the impossibility that such causes should operate. Let the reader endeavor to swallow air; the mouth being deprived of all saliva, the attempt at further deglutition is fruitless; besides, to use the words of Mr. Ernes, "though the stomach or the bowels do contain a small portion of atmospheric air, flatulent colic is generated by carbonic acid or sulphureted hydrogen gas, the products of decomposition; either of which, if respired, destroys vitality."
A HORSE DYING OF FLATULENT COLIC.
The horse which is to be oppressed by flatulent colic exhibits uneasiness after feeding; it hangs the head; breathes laboriously; fidgets; rocks the body, and rests first on one leg then on the other. These symptoms are exhibited before any enlargement of the abdomen is to be detected. With the swelling of the belly pawing commences; that action is, however, far too leisurely displayed to be for an instant confounded with the same energetic movement which characterizes spasmodic colic.
W. Percivall asserts that animals roll and kick at the abdomen during flatulent colic. Every fact requires to be respectfully considered which is recorded by so estimable a writer; but the author has never witnessed such symptoms in genuine flatulent colic. The horse will stand in one spot throughout the day; even the movement of the foot, before noticed, appears to be an exertion. The eye is sleepy, the pulse heavy, wind frequently passes from the body, and in such a condition the animal remains, slowly becoming worse.
Almost in the same place the horse may stand three or four days; then the abdomen is much increased in size; the animal is restless; the pulse is extremely feeble; the breathing is very fast; the pupil of the eye is dilated and the sight is lost. A walk as in a mill is commenced; obstacles are run into or upset; delirium begins; weak neighs are uttered in reply to visionary challenges; the coat is ragged; copious and partial perspirations break forth; the beat of the artery is lost at the jaw; an intermittent flutter is to be indistinctly felt at the heart. At last the limbs fail; the body falls; struggles ensue, and the creature dies in consequence of the distended abdomen compressing the lungs, thus preventing the breath being inhaled.
Relief should be afforded before the distress grows urgent; when the flatulence comes on without green provender being consumed, the chances favor recovery; even then, however, the gas may be confined to the stomach, which obliges entire dependence to be placed upon internal remedies. In the beginning, a ball composed of two drachms of sulphuret of ammonia, with a sufficiency of extract of gentian and powdered quassia, may be repeated thrice, half an hour being suffered to elapse between each administration. No benefit ensuing, one ounce of chlorate of potash, dissolved in a pint of cold water and mingled with two ounces of sulphuric ether, may, at the expiration of the time named, be horned down. After another hour, should no amendment be perceptible, two ounces each of sulphuric ether and laudanum, half an ounce of camphorated spirits, and one drachm of carbonate of ammonia may be given in a pint of cold water. Should no good effects ensue, in another hour throw up a tobacco-smoke enema by means of the machine here represented.