arges
mingled with blood. Discharges in dysentery are coffee colored or
bloody, liquid, and very offensive in odor, and passed with much
straining. It is rare in the horse, but is sometimes quite prevalent
among foals.

_Causes._--Probably the most common cause is keeping young horses in
particular for a long time on low, wet, marshy pastures, without other
feed (a diarrhea of long standing sometimes terminates in dysentery);
exposure during cold, wet weather; decomposed feeds; stagnant water that
contains large quantities of decomposing vegetable matter; low, damp,
and dark stables, particularly if crowded; the existence of some
disease, as tuberculosis of the abdominal form. In suckling foals it may
come from feeding the dam on irritant feeds or from disease of the
udder. In other foals it may be produced by exposure to cold and damp,
to irritant feed, or to worms.

_Symptoms._--The initial symptom is a chill, which probably escapes
notice in the majority of instances. The discharges are offensive and
for the most part liquid, although it is common to find lumps of solid
fecal matter floating in this liquid portion; shreds of mucous membrane
and blood may be passed or the evacuations may be mucopurulent; there is
much straining, and, rarely, symptoms of abdominal pain; the subject
lies down a great deal; the pulse is quickened and the temperature
elevated. Thirst is a prominent symptom. In the adult, death rarely
follows under two to three weeks, but in foals the disease may end in
death after a few days.

_Treatment._--This is most unsatisfactory, and I am inclined to place
more dependence upon the care and feed than any medication that may be
adopted. First of all the horse must be placed in a dry, warm, yet
well-ventilated stable; the skin is to receive attention by frequent
rubbings of the surface of the body, with blankets, and bandages to the
legs. The water must be pure and given in small quantities; the feed,
that which is light and easily digested. Medicinally, give at first a
light dose of castor oil, about one-half pint, to which has been added 2
ounces of laudanum. The vegetable or mineral astringents are also to be
given. Starch injections containing laudanum often afford great relief.
The strength must be kept up by milk punches, eggs, beef tea, oatmeal
gruel, etc. In spite of the best care and treatment, however, dysentery
is likely to prove fatal. In the case of nurslings, the dam should be
placed