Subspinal Anesthesia- Abdominal 

 Operations. 



This anesthesia is obtained by injecting mild, non- 

 toxic solutions of local anesthetics, of which stovaine 

 is the best, into the peritoneal cavity. Immediately 

 after the solution has been injected the dog is placed 

 in the dorsal recumbent position and held in this po- 

 sition until the anesthesia is established, requiring 

 usually about fifteen minutes. 



The anesthesia obtained in this manner affects the 

 entire abdominal viscera and is so complete as to per- 

 mit of free handling or incising or dissection of the 

 parts. The skin remains sensitive and the animal is 

 wide awake. The failure of the skin anesthesia can 

 be overcome by injecting a little of the solution sub- 

 cutaneously at the seat of incision. Anesthesia by 

 this method prevails for several hours if stovaine is 

 used and there are no bad after-effects. 



In occasional cases an obturator paralysis is tem- 

 porarily established, lasting for three or four hours. 

 This is evidenced by a straddling or sprawling gait 

 behind when the dog is placed on his feet after the 

 operation. It seems that he finds it impossible to 

 abduct the pelvic limbs. This paralysis lasts only so 

 long as the anesthetic is active, from one to four 

 hours. 



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