DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. 75 



INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION. 



Obstruction is possible in any part of the intestinal canal from the moutli 

 to the rectum. The condition is an uncommon one, and -when existing it 

 is rarely recognized in time but is mistaken for some other disease of the 

 the bowels. 



Causation. — It may arise from many causes ; more prominent among 

 them are foreign bodies such as bones, wood, grass and other indigestible 

 materials taken into the stomach; obstinate constipation, fecal masses 

 becoming lodged in the bowels ; pressure upon the intestines from without, 

 as in cases of tumors, or the abdominal organs greatly enlarged by disease ; 

 solid growths within the intestine; the imprisonment of the bowel in 

 holes, fissures and hernial rings; strangulation by false ligaments, or 

 bands of lymph ; twisting, and the formation of knots in the intestine ; 

 obstruction by the bowel itself as in intussusception, a condition where 

 one portion of the intestine falls into another and becomes strangulated. 



Symptoms. — The selection of a typical case of acute internal strangu- 

 lation for an illustration can alone convey an adequate idea of the 

 symptoms. 



Pain is usually the first manifestation sufficient to attract attention, 

 although in some instances an insignificant diarrhoea or constipation may 

 have previously existed. The pain is severe, colicky in character and 

 recurs at intervals ; the symptoms at this stage are identically those de- 

 scribed in colic, for which obstruction is commonly mistaken and treated. 



For convenience it is presumed the usual domestic remedies have been 

 employed, and under the impression a free passage of the bowels would 

 bring relief, not only a cathartic but an injection has been administered. 

 But success does not attend the use of these remedies; the bowels do not 

 move, or at least only slightly, the pain persists in all its intensity, and 

 vomiting becomes frequent. The abdomen becomes distended, the ex- 

 pression piteous and anxious, the eyes congested and sunken. The 

 respiration is superficial and frequent, the pulse small and rapid. The 

 animal makes frequent attempts to empty the bowels; these efforts are 

 painful and increased by the failure to purge. The vomited matter is 

 composed, first, of the contents of the stomach and then of greenish mat- 

 ter, later a dirty green, then brownish having something the appearance 

 of diarrhoeal discharges ; finally if life is prolonged, matter which should 

 naturally have been thrown off by the bowels appears mingled with that 

 vomited, accompanied with the characteristic fecal odor At this time the 

 animal is in a condition of collapse, the skin cold and clammy, vomiting 

 frequent, breathing rapid, thirst great, pain exhausting, eyes leaden, 

 tongue dry and covered with a dirt, brown coat, pulse thin and thready 



