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
ENGORGEMENT COLIC.--This form of colic consists in an overloading of the
stomach with feed. The horse may have been overfed or the feed may have
collected in the stomach through failure of this organ to digest it and
pass it backward into the intestines. Even a normal quantity of feed
that the horse is unaccustomed to may cause disease. Hence a sudden
change of feed may produce engorgement colic. Continued full rations
while the horse is resting for a day or two or working too soon after
feeding may serve as a cause. New oats, corn, or hay, damaged feed, or
that which is difficult of digestion, such as barley or beans, may
incite engorgement colic. This disease may result from having fed the
horse twice by error or from its having escaped and taken an
unrestricted meal from the grain bin. Ground feeds that pack together,
making a sort of dough, may cause engorgement colic if they are not
mixed with cut hay. Greedy eaters are predisposed to this disease.
_Symptoms._--The horse shows the general signs of abdominal pain, which
may be long continued or of short duration. Retching or vomiting
movements are made; these are shown by labored breathing, upturned upper
lip, contraction of the flank, active motion at the throat, and drawing
in of the nose toward the breast, causing high arching of the neck. The
horse may assume a sitting position like a dog. At times the pain is
very great and the horse makes the most violent movements, as though
mad. At other times there is profound mental depression, the horse
standing in a sleepy, or dazed, way, with the head down, the eyes
closed, and leaning his head against the manger or wall. There is,
during the struggles, profuse perspiration. Following retching, gas may
escape from the mouth, and this may be followed by a sour froth and some
stomach contents. The horse can not vomit except when the stomach is
violently stretched, and, if the accumulation of feed or gas is great
enough to stretch the stomach so that vomiting is possible, it may be
great enough to rupture that organ. So it happens not infrequently that
a horse dies from ruptured stomach after vomiting. After the stomach
ruptures, however, vomiting is impossible. The death rate in this form
of colic is high.
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