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
_Intestinal concretions (calculi or stones in the intestines)._--These
concretions are usually found in the large bowels, though they are
occasionally seen in the small intestines. They are of various sizes,
weighing from 1 ounce to 25 pounds; they may be single or multiple, and
differ in composition and appearance, some being soft (composed mostly
of animal or vegetable matter), while others are porous, or honeycombed
(consisting of animal and mineral matter), and others are entirely hard
and stonelike. The hair balls, so common to the stomach and intestines
of cattle, are very rare in horses. Intestinal calculi form around some
foreign body, as a rule--a nail or piece of wood--whose shape they may
assume to a certain extent. Layers are arranged concentrically around
such nucleus until the sizes above spoken of are attained. These stones
are also often found in millers' horses, as well also as in horses in
limestone districts, where the water is hard. When the calculi attain a
sufficient size and become lodged or blocked in some part of the
intestines, they cause obstruction, inflammation of the bowels, colicky
symptoms, and death. There are no certain signs or symptoms that reveal
them. Recurring colics of the type of impaction colic, but more severe,
may lead one to suspect the existence of this condition. Examination
through the rectum may reveal the calculus.
The symptoms will be those of obstruction of the bowels. Upon
post-mortem examinations these stones will be discovered mostly in the
large bowels; the intestines will be inflamed or gangrenous about the
point of obstruction. Sometimes calculi have been expelled by the action
of a physic, or they may be removed by the hand when found to occupy the
rectum.
As in concretions of the stomach, but little can be done in the way of
treatment more than to overcome spasm (if any exists), and to give
physics with the hope of dislodging the stone or stones and carrying
them on and outward.
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