Special Report on Diseases of the HorseUnited States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Science
Special Report on Diseases of the Horse
United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Horses -- Diseases
Any animal suffering from fever, whatever the cause, is much more
susceptible to attacks of local inflammation, which become complications
of the original disease, than are animals in sound health. In fever we
have the tissues and the walls of the blood vessels weakened, we have an
increased current of more or less altered blood flowing through the
vessels and stagnating in the capillaries, which need but an exciting
cause to transform the passive congestion of fever into an active
congestion and acute inflammation. These conditions become still more
distinct when the fever is accompanied with a decided deterioration in
the blood itself, as is seen in influenza, septicemia, and at the
termination of severe pneumonias.
Fever, with its symptoms of increased temperature, acceleration of the
pulse, acceleration of respiration, dry skin, diminished secretions,
etc., must be considered as an indication of organic disturbance. This
organic disturbance may be the result of local inflammation or other
irritants acting through the nerves on nerve centers, alterations of the
blood, in which a poison is carried to the nerve centers, or direct
irritants to the nerve centers themselves, as in cases of heat stroke,
injury to the brain, etc.
The treatment of fever depends upon its cause. One of the important
factors in treatment is absolute quiet. This may be obtained by placing
a sick horse in a box stall, away from other animals and extraneous
noises and sheltered from excessive light and drafts of air. Anodynes,
belladonna, hyoscyamus, and opium act as antipyretics simply by quieting
the nervous system. As an irritant exists in the blood in most cases of
fever, any remedy which will favor the excretion of foreign elements
from it will diminish this cause. We therefore use diaphoretics to
stimulate the sweat and excretions from the skin; diuretics to favor the
elimination of matter by the kidneys; cholagogues and laxatives to
increase the action of the liver and intestines, and to drain from these
important organs all the waste material which is aiding to choke up and
congest their rich plexuses of blood vessels. The heart becomes
stimulated to increased action at the outset of a fever, but this does
not indicate increased strength; on the contrary, it indicates the
action of an irritant to the heart that will soon weaken it. It is,
therefore, irrational further to depress the heart by the use of such
drugs as aconite. It is better to strengthen it and to favor the
elimination of the substance that is irritating it. The increased blood
pressure throughout the body may be diminished by lessening the quantity
of blood. This is obtained in some cases with advantage when the disease
is but starting and the animal is plethoric by direct abstraction of
blood, as in bleeding from the jugular or other veins; or by
derivatives, such as mustard, turpentine, or blisters applied to the
skin; or by setons, which draw to the surface the fluid of the blood,
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