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THE EFFECT OF WHEAT EAT-
ING BY HORSES.
Paper Read by W. T. Kendall, D.V.
Sc., M.R.C.V.S., H.A.R.C.V.S., at
the Tenth Annual Convention of the
Chamber of Agriculture held at Warr-
nambool.
Horse owners have long known the
danger of suddenly putting horses on
a diet of wheaten chaff, or of allow-
ing them access to the grain, which
brings on attacks of acute indiges-
tion, colic, and laminitis, and also
that horses may gradually become
habitated to a diet of wheaten chaff
or even large quantities of the grain
without suffering any deleterious ef-
fects.
In the wheat-growing districts
many cases of serious illness arise
through horses gaining access to and
eating large quantities of wheat, and
many valuable animals are annually
lost as a consequence either through
rupture of the stomach or bowels or
some other cause, as well as from
improper treatment.
In the feeding of horses in cities
on wheaten chaff rich in grain exces-
sive quantities of bran cause similar
troubles.
With the object of gaining more
precise knowledge about the effects
of eating wheat and adopting a ra-
tional method of treatment, I com-
menced a series of feeding experi-
ments on horses last season, and
continued them up to the present at
the University Veterinary School,
and I now take the opportunity of
acquainting you with the results.
I have endeavoured as far as pos-
sible to determine--
1. The effect of eating different
quantities of wheat under different
conditions.
2. To ascertain whether, apart from
acute indigestion and possible rup-
ture of the stomach and intestines,
any poisonous material is evolved
after the wheat has been eaten, to
account for the frequent mortality,
without rupture.
3. To watch the effects of wheat
eating without adopting remedial
measures.
4. To determine whether the intro-
duction of water into the stomach
after wheat had been eaten had any
deleterious effect on the patient.
5. To test the efficacy of different
remedies.
I may mention that excessive feed-
ing on bran is quite as injurious as
feeding on wheat, and many horses
are foundered with it. It is generally
known that a mixture of bran with
chaff and oats is a good thing, and
probably for this reason no article
of diet is so injudiciously used.
Feeding on green wheat which has
grown too luxuriantly is often more
beneficial to the growing wheat than
to the animals fed on it. When mares
and foals are turned out in the wheat
paddocks without other food, the
foals soon became rickety on ac-
count of lack of nitrogenous and
bone-forming material in the young
wheat. This would not occur if the
mares were allowed a reasonable
quantity of oats or other hard fuel
along with the watery, innutritious
green wheat.
As a result of the experiments con-
ducted, I have drawn up the follow-
ing brief account of the symptoms,
causes of death, and treatment in
cases of wheat eating :--
SYMPTOMS.
The symptoms vary with the
amount of wheat eaten, the presence
or absence of other food in the di-
gestive organs, and the breed and the
temperament of the animal.
In some cases there are no marked
symptoms beyond a little dulness,
somnolence, haggard expression and
distended abdomen, although a large
quantity of wheat may have been
eaten. In others decided colicky
pains are shown, the animal being
extremely restless, pawing and scrap-
ing with the fore feet, paddling round
twisting the tail, attempting to lie
down and then straightening up
again or violently throwing them-
selves down and groaning, rolling
and propping the body in various
positions, sitting on the haunches,
even vomiting. Death may take place
in 48 hours. There are other cases
where no ill-efects are shown for
several hours, when laminitis suddenly
develops, and there may be diar-
rhoea.The mucous membranes are
sometimes yellow, and petechial
spots appear.
In some instances there is intense
perspiration, and great difficilty in
breathing on account of the distended
abdomen. Laminitis is more likely
to occur in draught horses and colic
and oedema of the legs in lighter
breeds. There is seldom much rise in
the temperature except in cases
where there is profuse sweating, great
depression, pained expression, and
other symptoms of toxaemia. In
these cases there may be no visible
symptoms till 15 or 20 hours after
the wheat has been eaten, beyond
perhaps a slightly staring coat and
haggard expression. The bowels be-
come inflamed, and death usually fol-
lows in a few hours.
CAUSES OF DEATH.
Engorgement with wheat may
cause death in the following ways:—
1. By rupture of the stomach or
bowels. This most frequently occurs
when large quantities of wheat have
been eaten in a short time.
2. Toxic inflammation of the bowels
due to a poison or toxin which deve-
loped in the presence of an acid fer-
mentation.
3. Death may also result from la-
minitis and its complications.
4. From broncho-pneumoma brought
on through vomited material or
drugs getting into the windpipe.
TREATMENT.
The experiments show that even
when a tolerably large quantity of
wheat has been eaten and the ani-
mal is ill for many hours, recovery
may take place without treatment,
and I would strongly urge stock-own-
ers to avoid drenching with such
nauseating drugs as linseed oil or
aloes, not only on account of the
risk of the medicine going down the
windpipe, but because they do no
good, and only tend to bring on vo-
miting. The idea that allowing the
patient to drink water swells the
wheat and increases the danger of
rupture is quite erroneous. The fact
is the amount of saliva swallowed
with the wheat, and the digestive
fluids it meets within the stomach
and intestines, swell the wheat to its
fullest extent, and no amount of
water, that the animal may drink or
have pumped into it can swell the
wheat any more. Furthermore, our
experiments prove beyond doubt that
large quantities of water bave a de-
cidedly beneficial effect, not, however,
by washing the wheat out of the
bowels, but by diluting and removing
through the kidneys the poisonous
substances evolved.
It would not be advisable, how-
ever, to allow the patient to drink,
or to pump water into the stomach
for some hours after feeding, or till
symptoms of distress appear, other-
wise some of the undigested wheat
may be washed out of the stomach
into the bowels. The addition of a
couple of ounces of bicarbonate of
soda to the drinking water or water
that may be pumped into the sto-
mach, neutralises the excessive acid-
ity, and prevents the further forma-
tion of toxin.
To the skilled veterinarian areco-
line, eserine and pilocarpine are valu-
able drugs, but too dangerous in the
hands of an amateur.
I would therefore advise horse
owners who may have horses suffer-
ing from the effects of wheat eating
to leave them alone, except allowing
them plenty of water, to which bak-
ing soda has been added, till they
can call in the nearest veterinary
surgeon, for I am sure that quite as
many of these cases die from over
doctoring as from want of it.
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