rs, or enemas as a rule should be lukewarm, and
from 3 to 6 quarts are to be given at a time. They may be repeated every
half hour if necessary. Great care is to be taken not to injure the
rectum in giving such injections. A large syringe or a piece of rubber
hose 4 or 5 feet long, with a funnel attached at one end, affords the
best means by which to give them. The pipe of the syringe or the hose
introduced into the rectum must be blunt, rounded, and smooth; it is to
be thoroughly oiled and then carefully pushed through the anus in a
slightly upward direction. Much force must be avoided, for the rectum
may be lacerated and serious complications or even death result.
Exercise will aid the action of the bowels in this and similar colicky
troubles, but severe galloping or trotting is to be avoided. If the
horse can have a loose box or paddock, it is the best, as he will then
take what exercise he wants. If the patient is extremely violent, it is
often wise to restrain him by leading him with a halter, since rupture
of the stomach or displacement of the bowels may result and complicate
the trouble.

INDIGESTION OR GASTROINTESTINAL CATARRH.

From the facts that they merge insensibly into each other and usually
occur simultaneously, there is ample reason for considering these
conditions together. This condition may be acute--that is, of sudden
onset--or it may be chronic. The changes of structure produced by this
disease occur in the mucous membrane lining of the stomach and
intestines. This membrane becomes red from increased blood supply or
from hemorrhage into it, is swollen, and is covered by a coating of
slimy mucus. In some especially severe cases the membrane is destroyed
in spots, causing the appearance of ulcers or of erosions.

The causes of indigestion are numerous, but nearly all are the result of
errors in feeding.

Some horses are naturally endowed with weak digestive organs, and such
are predisposed to this condition. Anything that irritates the stomach
or intestines may cause this disease. Feeds that the animal is
unaccustomed to, sudden changes of diet, imperfectly cured, unripe, or
damaged feeds are all fruitful causes, and so are worms. In suckling
foals this condition may come from some disease of the dam that renders
her milk indigestible, or from overexertion or overheating of the mare.
Another prolific cause is bad teeth, making mastication imperfect, and
thus causing the horse to swallow his feed