The Farmer's Veterinarian: A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Farm StockBurkett, Charles William
Science
The Farmer's Veterinarian: A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Farm Stock
Burkett, Charles William
Veterinary medicine
=COFFIN JOINT LAMENESS.=--See Navicular Disease.
=COLDS.=--See Catarrh.
=COLIC.=--Colic is an inflammation of the bowels characterized by a
spasmodic contraction of the intestinal walls. It is a very common
disease in horses, and occasionally cattle and lambs are affected with
it. Both the small and large intestines may be afflicted or only one of
them. There are many causes, but feed and water are the controlling
factors. An animal just stopped from hard work and given a large
quantity of cold water, especially after eating, may be quickly
troubled. And the animal hot from work, on drinking very cold water,
often gets colic. Then, too, a change of food, or a change from dry feed
to green food or eating some root crop when the animal is not used to
it, may bring on the disease.
Then, again, some horses and cattle are more given to colic than others.
Some individuals are never troubled, and others are almost constantly
under its influence. If much inflammation sets in, a very serious case
is on your hands. Two kinds of colic are known--the spasmodic, a
contraction, commonly known as cramps of the bowels; and wind or
flatulent colic or bloating. Some authorities add a third, and call it
worm colic.
=Spasmodic Colic.=--This kind of colic is first noticed when the horse
begins to paw with his forefeet, cringes, bends his head around as if
looking at his side, lays on the ground and rolls as if in pain; then he
stands quietly for a while and repeats these performances again. During
the time between the spasms the animal is more at ease and frequently
eats a little. When the spasms come on again the shifting about and the
rolling are repeated. If the cramps are severe the animal breaks out
with sweat. The pulse is accelerated when the spasms are on, ranging
from 60 to 65 beats a minute. If inflammation has set in, the pulse
instead of rising and falling remains more constant and is high all the
time.
[Illustration: COLIC PAINS
A common attitude with colic. When seized with pains the horse paws,
scrapes the ground with his front feet, stamps and strikes the belly
with the hind ones, lays back his ears and looks around to his flank.]
When the spasms are on, pressing the bowels seems to relieve the pain
and please the animal, but if inflammation is present the pressure seems
to increase the pain. The best treatment is to relieve the pain with an
opiate, and next to obtain a free action of the bowels by a purge. Many
prescriptions have been suggested, among which is the following: 4
tablespoonfuls of sweet spirits of niter, 4 tablespoonfuls of laudanum,
1 tablespoonful of ginger and 1 tablespoonful of common soda. These are
added to a pint of warm water and given as a drench.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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