100 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



rises, moves his tail uneasily, and kicks at his belly with the foot 

 of the affected side. The pain evinced may diminish, but soon 

 returns again. In the early stage there are frequent passages of 

 dung, but after the lapse of eighteen to twenty-four hours this 

 ceases, the bowel apparently being emptied up to the point of 

 strangulation, and the .passages now consist only of a little mucus 

 mixed with blood. Wnen injections are given at this time the 

 water passes out of the bowel without even being colored. The 

 animal lies down on the side where the hernia exists and stretches 

 out his hind feet in a backward direction. These two particular 

 symptoms serve to distinguish this affection from enteritis and in- 

 vagination of the bowel. As time passes, the animal becomes 

 quieter, but this cessation of pain may indicate that gangrene of the 

 bowel has set in, and may, therefore, under certain circumstances, 

 be considered a precursor of death. Gangrene may take place in 

 from four to six days, when perforation of the bowel may occur 

 and death result in a short time. 



Treatment. The ox should in the first place be examined 

 by oiling the hand and arm and passing it into the rectum; the 

 hand should be passed along the margin of the pelvis, beginning 

 at the sacrum and continuing downward toward the inguinal ring, 

 when a soft, painful swelling will be felt, which may vary from the 

 size of an apple to that of the two fists. This swelling will be felt 

 to be tightly compressed by the spermatic cord. It very rarely hap- 

 pens that there is any similar swelling on the left side, though it 

 is best in such cases to make a thorough examination. The bowel 

 has sometimes been released from its position by driving the ox 

 down a hill, by causing him to jump from a height of 2 feet to the 

 ground, and the expedient of trotting him has been resorted to 

 with the hope that the jolting movement might bring about a re- 

 lease of the bowel. If the simple expedients mentioned have been 

 tried and failed, then the hand being passed into the rectum should 

 'be pressed gently on the swelling in an upward and forward direc- 

 tion, so as to endeavor to push the imprisoned portion of the bowel 

 back into the abdomen. While this is being done the ox's hind 

 feet should stand on higher ground than the front, so as to favor 

 the slipping out of the bowel by its own weight, and at the same 

 time an assistant should squeeze the animal's loins, so as to cause 

 it to bend downward and so relax the band formed by the spermatic 

 cord. If the imprisoned portion of gut is freed, which may be 

 ascertained by the disappearance of the swelling, the usual sounds 

 produced by the bowels moving in the abdomen will be heard, 

 and in a few hours the feces and urine will be passed as usual. If 

 the means mentioned fail in releasing the imprisoned portion of 

 the gut, then an incision about 4 inches long must be made in the 

 right flank in a downward direction, the hand introduced into the 

 abdomen, the situation and condition of swelling exactly ascer- 

 tained, and then a probe-pointed knife inserted between the im- 

 prisoned bowel and band compressing it, and turned outward 

 against the band, the latter being then cautiously divided and the 



