The _symptom_ most positively indicative of this disease is the
circumstance of the affected animal leaning toward one side, cringing,
as it were, from internal pain, and bending toward the ground.
The _cause_ of the obstruction on which the disease depends, is
over-feeding--permitting the animal to indulge its appetite to the
utmost extent that gluttony may prompt, and the capacity of its stomach
admits. A very short perseverance in this mode of management--or,
rather, mismanagement--will produce this, as well as other maladies,
deriving their origin from a depraved condition of the secretions and
the obstruction of the excretory ducts.
_Treatment._ Clean out the alimentary canal by means of a powerful
aperient. Allow the animal to fast for four or five hours, when he will
take a little sweet wash or broth, in which may be mingled a dose of
Epsom salts proportioned to his size. This will generally effect the
desired end--a copious evacuation--and the action of the medicine on the
watery secretions will also relieve the existing diseased condition of
the spleen.
If the affection has continued for any length, the animal should be
bled. A decoction of the leaves and tops of wormwood and liverwort,
produced by boiling them in soft water for six hours, may be given in
doses of from half a pint to a pint and a half, according to the size,
age, etc., of the animal. Scammony and rhubarb, mixed in a bran wash, or
with Indian meal, may be given with advantage on the following day; or,
equal portions of blue-pill mass and compound colocynth pill, formed
into a bolus with butter. The animal having been kept fasting the
previous night, will probably swallow it; if not, let his fast continue
a couple of hours longer. Lower his diet, and keep him on reduced fare,
with exercise, and, if it can be managed, grazing, until the malady has
passed away. If he is then to be fattened, it should be done gradually;
be cautious of at once restoring him to full diet.