Text book of veterinary medicine, Volume 4 (of 5)Law, James
Science
Text book of veterinary medicine, Volume 4 (of 5)
Law, James
Veterinary medicine
Congestions of the stomach and intestines are indicated by inappetence,
sometimes flatulence, passage of flatus, constipation with small, round,
mucous-coated balls passed in small numbers, and by slight transient
colics, pawing, looking at the flanks, and retraction of the abdomen.
The retention of bile and destruction of blood elements are indicated in
a deeper yellow of the conjunctiva and visible mucosæ, and in a yellow,
brown or red color of the urine. There may be tenderness of the abdomen,
but this, like the colics, is moderate, the senses being blunted by the
attendant stupor which is usually even greater than in the thoracic
forms. Urination may become frequent with straining, and the urine may
become turbid, opaque, with flocculi of cystic epithelium and mucus, and
even albumen. In from three to five days diarrhœa supervenes, the fæces
becoming soft, pulpy, watery, glairy or bloody, and escaping through a
permanently dilated sphincter. The diarrhœa may alternate with periods
of torpor or complete inactivity, otherwise tenesmus of the rectum is
marked. The exposed rectal mucosa is congested, of a deep red or it may
be of a dark violet hue. Eversion is not unknown.
In the worst cases death may ensue by the third or fourth day, but in
others the diarrhœa is critical and heralds an improvement which goes on
to a speedy recovery. In still other cases the bowel troubles continue,
the fever does not give way and the privation of food and rapid
metamorphosis of tissue produce steady emaciation and fatal marasmus.
A striking feature of the gastro-intestinal disease is the extraordinary
susceptibility to laxatives. So much is this the case that I have known
of two drachms of aloes proving fatal by superpurgation in a large,
mature Percheron horse. It is never safe to use laxatives in equine
influenza until one has ascertained whether in the special form of the
epizoötic in question the gastro-intestinal organs are or are not
especially involved.
_Disorders of the eye_ are so common or constant as to have procured for
certain epizoötics the name of _pink eye_. They set in suddenly, and
equally in both eyes, with infiltration of the lids and particularly of
the mucosa which is of a more or less deep red, and may bulge between
the margins of the eyelids, (chemosis). The flow of tears is profuse,
seropurulent matter accumulates at the canthi and in the lachrymal sacs,
vision is impaired and there is intolerance of light. The cornea becomes
bluish, cloudy or milky white, with a red zone around its margin and,
above all, on the adjacent sclerotic. In some cases the aqueous humor
becomes turbid or flocculent, and the iris changes its clear, healthy
dark lustre for a dull brown or yellow tint. The tension of the globe
may be materially encreased. They are readily distinguished from
recurrent ophthalmia by the attendant weakness, stupor and hyperthermia,
and by their non-recurrence in case the patient survives.
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