It is sometimes accompanied by dullness or dizziness (stomach staggers).
Treatment.—Correct the feeding. Give not too much, and only that most acceptable at first. Give J.K., three times per day for a week, then J.K. morning and noon, and I.I., at night.
Colic
This is one of the most common diseases of the horse. The passage of food along the bowels is effected by the alternate contraction and relaxation of the muscular coat of the intestines. Hence it is easy to perceive that flatulent or irritating food, food in too large quantities, large quantities of green food that produce much gas, masses of hard, dry dung, or sudden chill upon the warm skin, all may produce irregular contraction of the intestines, and hence produce pain and colic. Tumors, worms and stones also produce the same result.
Symptoms.—In colic the attack begins suddenly. The animal is uneasy; shifts his position, paws or stamps the ground, kicks his belly with his hind feet, looks frequently at his flanks, groans, falls upon the ground and rolls about violently, or lies on his back, in which posture he remains for a short time, seeming quiet and free from pain. Soon, however, the pain comes on again, even with symptoms of greater intensity than before. He throws himself widely about, careless of the injuries he receives during these moments of agony and tossing. He grinds his teeth, bites the manger, and looks towards his flanks with a wild, anxious expression. If he improves, the paroxysms become less frequent and less violent, and free intervals longer, until entire relief; or if worse, the pain becomes more and more intense, paroxysms more frequent, until there is no free intervals; inflammation results, the ears and legs become cold, pulse small and wiry, and the animal dies from the results of the inflammation.
Many of the symptoms of colic are similar to those of inflammation of the bowels, and as the latter is by far the most formidable disease, we will endeavor to distinguish them, so as to avoid mistake.
The attack of colic is sudden, while that of inflammation is more gradual. In colic, the pulse is rarely quickened, and never so early in the disease, while in inflammation it is very quick and small even from the first.
In colic, the legs and ears are of the natural temperature. In inflammation, they are cold. In colic, there is relief from rubbing the bowels, and from motion. In Inflammation, the bowels are very tender, and motion vastly augments the pain. In colic, there are intervals of rest, while in inflammation there is constant pain. In colic, the strength is scarcely affected, while in inflammation there is great and rapidly increasing weakness.
Attention to these peculiarities will enable one to distinguish between the two diseases, and to avoid error in the treatment.
Treatment.—Give fifteen drops of F.F., on the tongue, and repeat the dose every half, or even quarter of an hour, until relieved, omitting the medicine altogether, or giving it at longer intervals as soon as the amendment is perceived. We have in the F.F., a remedy which rarely fails to arrest this disease.