Enteritis is inflammation of all the tissues of a portion of the intestine; the serous, muscular, and mucous coats are more or less affected. The symptoms are compounded of those of colic and of peritonitis.

Enteritis is excited by various causes. The peculiar irritability of the dog's bowels, and their proneness to take on inflammatory action, render them open to the action of causes of disease that would be otherwise trivial and inoperative. Exposure to cold and damp, or to sudden change of temperature, has been known to excite an attack of enteritis, especially in petted dogs that are kept in warm, close rooms, and are thus made extremely sensitive to changes of the weather. Over-exertion, unwholesome food, the repression of a skin disease either spontaneous or forced by improper treatment, are also among the exciting causes. Colic and obstruction of the bowels axe apt to end in enteritis. Obstruction from hardened faeces, foreign bodies, etc., is a very frequent cause of this disease.

Symptoms

The symptoms of enteritis are shivering, followed by general febrile excitement, thirst, loss of appetite, panting, dryness of nose, coldness of the legs, scanty urine, redness of the eyes, etc. The countenance expresses great anxiety, the back is arched, the legs drawn under the belly, and the tail firmly drawn over the anus and between the legs. The dog's cries are frequent, short, and sharp; he crawls to, and remains in, a corner in the dark and out of the way; he frequently looks round to his flanks, and before turning back his head gives a groan rather than a howl; he stretches himself out, and seems to be relieved by lying on his stomach on a cold surface. The pain recurs in paroxysms. The heat of the belly, like that of the skin generally, is increased; the belly is tense and distended, and tender to the touch. In simple colic pressure relieves pain; and when the stomach is involved in the inflammation, as is often the case, there is almost incessant vomiting, and the vomit is frequently mixed with bile. In true enteritis there is obstinate constipation from the first; but, as the mucous coat is likewise sometimes inflamed, the evacuations may be liquid, blackish, and offensive, but not faecal, in character. The pulse is hard and small and frequent. As the disease gets worse, the hind legs become palsied, the mouth and ears cold, the pulse more frequent and almost imperceptible, the breathing laborious and irregular, the legs covered with sweat, and death speedily ensues.

When enteritis supervenes upon mechanical obstruction in the bowels, the premonitory symptoms are characteristic, and differ from those already detailed. Obstruction from some cause or another - and the various causes which beget obstruction have been already mentioned - is undoubtedly the most frequent cause of intestinal inflammation, which is then strictly limited to that part of the bowel where the obstruction is. The most marked indication of obstruction is, of course, constipation - obstinate and all but insuperable in the majority of cases. There may be a discharge of those fasces that happen to be below the seat of obstruction, which is usually low down in the canal; and there may even be a forced evacuation of scanty mucus, but there is no proper relief of the bowels. The dog is uneasy, and makes frequent efforts to expel the contents of the bowels, but these efforts are ineffectual. On examination with the finger, the upper part of the rectum may be found crammed with hardened faeces; or an elastic tube passed up the bowel may meet with an obstacle to its further progress; or an injection of water returns as it was forced up; or, by carefully exploring the abdomen externally, a place is found fuller and more tender than other parts. In a few days after the appearance of these symptoms, the belly becomes very tender, the efforts to stool more frequent, more urgent, more painful, than before, and as unsuccessful; vomiting, thirst, and the other symptoms of enteritis speedily follow.

Dogs are sometimes affected with an inflammation which expends its greatest force on the mucous surface of the bowels, and which in some respects resembles the muco-enteritis of the human subject.

Bile, unhealthy both in character and amount, passes into the bowels, and by its acrid nature produces the disease in question. There is frequent vomiting of a yellowish or blackish offensive fluid; the evacuations are frequent, and resemble the vomit in appearance. The inflammation is generally limited to the anterior part of the intestinal canal. Certain mineral poisons excite analogous phenomena. There are incessant vomitings of frothy fluid streaked with blood; the evacuations consist chiefly of mucus, more or less mixed with blood. There is also urgent thirst, and a swollen, offensive state of the mouth.

Treatment

Aconitum * is indicated by quickness of pulse and the other symptoms of febrile disturbance; by tenderness of the abdomen; expressions of severe pain, which comes on in paroxysms; distention of the abdomen; bilious vomiting, etc. It is likewise indicated when the evacuations are loose, frequent, and accompanied by tenesmus.

Arsenicum is of great value in those severe cases where the motions are liquid and offensive; the pulse almost imperceptible; and the vital powers exhausted.

Belladonna is indicated when the abdomen is tender and distended with flatus, and the paroxysms of pain violent.

The articles on colic, constipation, and peritonitis should be consulted.

A warm bath, or warm fomentations, or injec-tions† of warm water, may be beneficial.

Food, Etc

As in peritonitis.