Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/221

Rh VETERINARY SCIENCE 201 DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. Considerations of space forbid a complete or detailed description of all the diseases, medical and surgical, to which the domesticated animals are liable. This is to be found in the current veterinary text-books. Reference will be made here only to the more import ant disorders of animals which are of a communicable nature, and which were not included in the article MUUKAIN (q.v. ). Diseases of the Horse. Every horseman should know something of the injuries, lame nesses, and diseases to which the horse is liable. Unfortunately not very much can be done in this direction by book instruction ; indeed, there is generally too much doctoring and too little nursing of sick animals. Even in slight and favourable cases of illness re covery is often retarded by too zealous and injudicious medication ; tlic object to be always kept in view in the treatment of animal patients is to place them in those conditions which allow nature to operate most freely in restoring health. This can best be rendered Nursing, in the form of nursing, which sick animals greatly appreciate. However indilferent a horse may be to caressing or kind attention during health, when ill he certainly appreciates both, and when in pain will often apparently endeavour to attract notice and seek relief from those with whom he is familiar. Fresh air and clean liness, quiet and comfort, should always be secured, if possible. The stable or loose box should be warm, without being close, and free from draughts. If the weather is cold, and especially if the horse is suffering from inflammation of the air-passages, it may be necessary to keep up the temperature by artificial means ; but great care should be taken that this does not render the air too dry to breathe. The surface of the body can be kept warm by rugs, and the legs by woollen bandages. Yet a sick horse is easily fatigued and annoyed by too much clothing, and therefore it is better to resort to artificial heating of the stable than to overload the body or impede movement by heavy wrappings. If blankets are used, it is well to place a cotton or linen sheet under them, should the horse have an irritable skin. For bedding, long straw should be employed as little as possible, since it hampers movement. Clean old litter, sawdust, or peat-moss litter is the best. If the hoofs are strong, and the horse likely to be confined for some weeks, it affords relief to take off the shoes. Tying up should be avoided, if possible, unless it is urgently required, the horse being allowed to move about or lie down as he may prefer. Food for When a sick horse has lost his appetite, ho should be tempted to a sick eat by offering him such food as will be enticing to him. It should horse. be given frequently and in small quantities, but should not be forced on him ; food will often be taken if offered from the hand, when it will not be eaten out of the manger. Whether the animal be fed from a bucket or from a manger, any food that is left should be thrown away, and the receptacle well cleaned out after each meal. As a rule, during sickness a horse requires laxative food, in order to allay fever or inflammatory symptoms, while support ing the strength. The following list comprises the usual laxative food employed : green grass, green wheat, oats, and barley, lucerne, carrots, parsnips, gruel, bran mash, linseed and bran mash, boiled barley, linseed tea, hay tea, and linseed oil. Green grass, lucerne, and similar articles of food, if cut when in a wet state, should be dried before being given. Boilc 1 grain should be cooked with very little water, so that it may be floury and comparatively dry when ready ; a little salt should be mix. with it. One gallon of good gruel may be made with a pound of meal and cold water, which should be stirred till it boils, and afterwards permitted to simmer over a gentle fire till the fluid is quite thick. To make a bran mash, scald a stable bucket, throw out the water, put in three pounds of bran and one ounce of salt, add two and a half pints of boiling water, stir up well, cover over, and allow the mash to stand for fifteen or twenty minutes until it is well cooked. For a bran and linseed mash, boil slowly for two or three hours one pound of linseed, so as to have about a couple of quarts of thick fluid, to which two pounds of bran and one ounce of salt may be added. The whole should be stirred up, covered over, and allowed to steam as before described. The thicker the mash the more readily will the horse eat it. Linseed tea is made by boiling one pound of linseud in a couple of gallons of water until the grains are quite soft. It may be economically made by using less water to cook the linseed, and afterwards making up the quantity of water to about a gallon and a half. Hay tea may be prepared by filling a bucket, a ft el se-aiding it, with good sweet hay, pouring in as much boiling water as the bucket will hold, covering it over, and allowing it to stand until cold, when the fluid may be strained off and given to the horse. This forms a refreshing drink. Linseed oil, in quantities of from one quarter to half a pint daily, may be mixed with the food ; it keeps the bowels in a lax condition, has a good effect on the skin and air- passages, and is useful as an article of diet. When debility lias to be combated, as in low fever or other weakening diseases, strengthening and other easily digested food must be administered, though some of the foods already mentioned, such as boiled grain, answer this purpose to a certain extent. Milk, eggs, bread and biscuits, malt liquor, corn, &c. , are often prescribed with this object. Milk may be given skimmed or unskimmed ; a little sugar may be mixed with it ; and one or two gallons may be given daily, according to circumstances. One or two eggs may be given beaten up with a little sugar and mixed with milk, three or four times a day, or more frequently ; or they may be boiled hard and powdered, and mixed in the milk. A quart of stout, ale, or porter may be given two or three times a day, or a half to one bottle of port wine aily. Scalded oats, with a little salt added, are very useful when convalescence is nearly completed. As a rule, a sick horse should have as much water as he likes to drink, though it may be necessary in certain cases to restrict the quantity, and to have the chill taken off ; but it should never be warmer than 75 to 80. As little grooming as possible should be allowed when a horse is very weak ; it should be limited to sponging about the mouth, nostrils, eyes, and forehead with clean water, to which a little vinegar may be added. Rub the legs and ears with the hand, take off the clothing, and shake or change it once a day, and if agreeable rub over the body with a soft cloth. Exercise is of course not re quired during sickness or injury, and the period at which it is allowed will depend upon circumstances. Care must be taken that it is not ordered too early, or carried too far at first. Administration of Medicine. Much care is required in admin- How to istering medicines in the form of ball or bolus ; and practice, as give a well as courage and tact, is needed in order to give it without ball, danger to the administrator or the animal. The ball should be held between the fingers of the right hand, the tips of the first and fourth being brought together below the second and third, which are placed on the upper side of the ball ; the right hand is thus made as small as possible, so as to admit of ready insertion into the mouth. The left hand grasps the horse s tongue, gently pulls it out, and places it on that part of the right side of the lower jaw which is bare of teeth. With the right hand the ball is placed at the root of the tongue. The moment the right hand is withdrawn, the tongue should be released. This causes the ball to be carried still further back. The operator then closes the mouth and watches the left side of the neck, to note the passage of the ball down the gullet. Many horses keep a ball in the mouth a considerable time before they will allow it to go down. A mouthful of water or a handful of food will generally make them swallow it readily. If this does not succeed, the nostrils should be grasped by the hand and held a few moments. A running halter should be used, so that the mouth may be quickly and securely closed. If the operator has not had much experience in giving balls, he should station an assistant on the near side, to aid in opening and steadying the mouth, by placing the fingers of his left hand on the lower jaw and the thumb of the right on the upper jaw. Holding the mouth in this manner facilitates the giving of the ball, and saves the operator s right hand, to a great extent, from being scratched by the horse s back teeth. It is most essential to have the ball moder ately soft ; nothing can be more dangerous than a hard one. To administer a drink or drench requires as much care as giving How to a ball, in order to avoid choking the horse, though it is unattended give a with risk to the administrator. An ordinary glass or stone bottle drink or maybe used, provided there are no sharp points around the mouth ; drench, but either the usual drenching horn or a tin vessel with a narrow mouth or spout is safer. It is necessary to raise the horse s head, so that the nose may be a little higher than the horizontal line. If the horse is restless, his head must be elevated by a loop of cord inserted into the mouth over the upper jaw, the prong of a stable fork being passed through it, and the handle held steady by an assistant. The drink must be given by a person standing on the right side (the assistant being in front or on the left side of the horse), the side of the mouth being pulled out a little, to form a sack or funnel, into which the medicine is poured, a little at a time, allowing an interval now and again for the horse to swallow. If any of the fluid gets into the windpipe (which it is liable to do if the head is held too high), it will cause coughing, whereupon the head should be instantly lowered. Neither the tongue nor the nostrils should be interfered with. Powders may be given in a little mash or gruel, well stirred up. If a wide surface is to be fomented (as the chest, abdomen, or Fomenta- loins), a blanket or other large woollen cloth should be dipped in tions or water as hot as the hand can comfortably bear it, moderately wrung bathing, out, and applied to the part, the heat and moisture being retained by covering it with a waterproof sheet or dry rug. - When it has lost some of its heat, it should be removed, dipped in warm water, and again applied. In cases of acute inflammation, it may be neces sary to have the water a little hotter ; and, to avoid the incon venience of removing the blanket, or the danger of chill when it is removed, it may be secured round the body by skewers or twine, the hot water being poured on the outside of the top part of the blanket by any convenient vessel. To foment the feet, they should be placed in a bucket or tub (the latter with the bottom resting wholly on the ground) containing warm water ; a quantity of moss litter put in the tub or bucket prevents splashing and retains the heat longer. XXIV. 26