ASTHMA IN THE HORSE.
Hering records a case of spasmodic asthma, in a strong cart horse. Besides the oppressed and difficult respiration, the animal was excessively dull and had no appetite, but the pulse was almost of the natural standard. The animal was not benefited by opening medicine but improved under active doses of extract of hyoscyamus. Quillaume reports two asses attacked apparently in the same way, and Delwart and Robertson refer to other cases. They recovered under antispasmodics. These are at least closely related to heaves, which is largely a neurosis at first.
ASTHMA. BROKEN WIND. HEAVES. DYSPNŒA.
Definition, neurotic affection with digestive and respiratory disorders. Causes, no racial exemption, disease largely coextensive with leafy hay from clover, alfalfa and other leguminous plants, musty hay, cryptogams, overloading the stomach, active work on a full stomach, overdriving, bronchitis, chronic bronchitis, emphysema. Nature, a neurotic affection, starting with derangement of some part of the vagus, dilatation of the right heart, congestion of the bronchioles. Symptoms, double expiratory action, flatulence, weak, husky cough, wheezing, glairy, grayish nasal discharge, wheezing, increased resonance along the margins of the lungs, sibilant râle, heart’s impulse strong, even felt on right side, aggravation with overloaded stomach, costiveness or muggy atmosphere, improvement on laxative (green) food. Treatment, succulent green food, natural pastures, relieve any abnormal state of lungs or bowels, pure air, heart tonic, diet, arsenic, special diagnosis, guard against masking of symptoms by narcotics, privation of water, shot, lard, recto-vaginal fistula, diagnostic signs, dilated nostrils, auscultation and percussion signs of emphysema, relapse under hay and water.
Definition. A chronic affection of the equine species, manifested by a hurried, wheezy breathing, greatly aggravated by close, muggy weather, a full stomach, certain kinds of diet, or by exercise; by a double lifting of the flank with each expiration; by a small, weak, dry cough, often occurring in paroxysms and easily excited by a drink of cold water, exposure to cold air or a fibrous quality of food; and lastly, by a marked disorder of the digestive organs.
Causes. This disease is essentially the result of faulty feeding and working, though pre-existing diseases of the air passages and sudden violent muscular efforts no doubt occasionally contribute to its development.
It has been alleged that some races of horses are exempt from this disease. Among these the Arabian, Persian, Barb, Spanish and Portuguese are especially named but their immunity in all probability depends on the feeding and management rather than on any peculiarity of breed. The countries where these horses are met with are not subject to a prolonged winter but yield green food throughout the greater part of the year, and it is a notorious fact that no horse becomes broken winded at pasture. The Arabians moreover “feed their horses on the scanty plants which the borders of the deserts supply and when these are wanting they are fed on a little barley with chopped straw, withered herbs, roots dragged from the sands, dates when these can be obtained, and in cases of need the milk of the camel. They drink at long intervals and in moderate quantities,” (Low). Since an habitually overloaded stomach is the most common cause of heaves the absence of the affection in the Arab is not surprising. But the Arab unfortunately enjoys no such security in England or America. Concerning the Barb, Delwart remarks that after a day’s hard work, fasting, he is fed on six or seven pounds only of barley, and without the cut straw that the Arab is allowed in similar circumstances.
In Spain and Portugal horses at work are fed on broken wheat and barley straw, from twelve to twenty-five pounds, and barley from six to twelve pounds daily, according to the size of the animal and the demands upon his strength. The mares are constantly at pasture and according to the rainfall they are starved or in abundance. Green food and a limited straw and grain diet are precisely the conditions in which broken wind does not appear. Rodriguez, veterinarian to the queen says that the disease was unknown to Spain until the cultivation of red clover, lucerne, and sainfoin. At Aranjuez, horses fed on the hay of these plants, lost vigor and wind and several became decidedly broken winded. All were, however, restored to health and vigor by a return to their former diet. Count Cardenas found that his horses gained in flesh on the new fodder, but that symptoms of broken wind developed themselves rapidly.
In France, M. Demoussy records similar facts. In Segala, where the aliment is substantially hay, broken winded horses abound, whilst in the adjacent district of Causse where horses are fed through the winter on straw and barley broken by the mules feet in the act of threshing or treading out, the disease is virtually unknown.
Lucerne and sweet trefoil are indigenous and grow abundantly in Causse and Caussergne but eaten green or after their seed has been shaken off and the stems have acquired a dry ligneous character these are innocuous. When however condemned to stand in the stable through a severe winter, with their racks constantly filled with hay, they will eat from thirty to thirty-five pounds of this daily and many become broken winded. The breeding mares which get little hay, seldom become affected though the plenitude of their abdomen and the impaired respiratory function might be thought to conduce to the affection.