The symptoms differ somewhat with the cause and depend also

The symptoms differ somewhat with the cause and depend also

Symptoms. The symptoms differ somewhat with the cause and depend also, to some extent, upon the chief location of the inflammation. In general the animal stops eating or eats but little; it shows colicky pain; fever develops; the pulse and respiration become rapid; the mucous membrane becomes red; the mouth is hot and dry. Pressure upon the abdomen may cause pain. Intestinal sounds can not be heard at the flank. There is constipation in the earlier stages that is, followed later by diarrhea. The extremities become cold. Sometimes the feces are coated with or contain shreds of fibrin, looking like scraps of dead membrane, and they have an evil, putrid odor. If the disease is caused by moldy or damaged feed there may be great muscular weakness, with partial paralysis of the throat, as shown by inability to swallow. If chemical poisons are the cause, this fact may be shown by the sudden onset of the disease, the history of the administration of a poison or the entire absence of known cause, the rapid development of threatening symptoms, the involvement of a series of animals in the absence of a contagious disease, and the special symptoms and alterations known to be produced by certain poisons. To make this chain of evidence complete, the poison may be discovered in the organs of the horse by chemical analysis. In nearly all cases of gastro-enteritis there is nervous depression.

Fonte: Diseases of the Horse