312 Foreign Bodies in the Stomach. 



Treatment. If treatment is at all desirable, the ingestion 

 of easily digestible, or still better, fluid feed (see page 291) may 

 retard the development of fatal symptoms and the general con- 

 dition of the animals may be preserved to a certain degree. 



To remove the accumulated gastric contents the same means 

 may be employed as recommended for gastric atony or for acute 

 dilatation of the stomach (see pages 273 and 303). Pyloric 

 stenosis in dogs may be treated by a gastroenterostomy as prac- 

 ticed in human surgery ; this operation has often been performed 

 successfully in experiments on dogs. 



Literature. Castel, Eev. vet., 1903, 472 (Lit.).— ritzroy-Philipot, J. v^t., 

 1885, 108.— Hitze, Pr. Mil. Vb., 1905, 161.— Koeh, Pr. Mt., 1880-81; 58, B. t. W., 

 1890, 195.-^Li^naiix, Ann., 1898, 65.— Oppenheim, T. Z., 1899, 139.— Trinchera 

 Clin. Vet., 1907, 613. 



7. Foreign Bodies in the Stomach. Corpora aliena ventriculi. 



Etiology. Aside from what occurs in rabies, in playing, re- 

 trieving or also in devouring their food, dogs frequently swallow 

 foreign bodies, such as stones, pieces of money, corks, bits of 

 glass, skeins of twine, pieces of cartilage, bone, rags, sponges, 

 needles, etc. ; hair balls are rarely found in the stomach of dogs. 



In cats, pieces of mice or rats, or whole mice, are sometimes 

 arrested in the stomach, other foreign bodies only very rarely ; 

 such foreign bodies may be needles, fruit seeds, etc. 



Pathogenesis. As long as foreign bodies remain free in the 

 stomach, they usually do not produce any harm, but according 

 to their nature, they frequently lead to acute or chronic catarrh 

 or inflammation of the stomach. Sharp or pointed bodies fre- 

 quently injure the gastric mucosa and penetrate it, leading then 

 to perforation or fistula. Pointed as well as dull bodies may be- 

 come wedged in the pylorus and may bring about its complete 

 obstruction. 



Swallowed pins rarely cause gastro-intestinal disturbances. Zoja, 

 who experimented on cats, made them swallow 125 sewing pins; only 

 two penetrated, one al)Ove the pylorus, one into the rectum; the others 

 were either voided through the anus or were found in the killed animals 

 in the large intestine where they had not led to any injury (Eichhorst). 



Symptoms. These occasionally are similar to those of an 

 acute, more rarely of a chronic gastric catarrh; they are more 

 frequently similar to those of inflammation of the stomach ; the 

 lodgment of the foreign body in the pylorus produces the symp- 

 toms of obstruction of the pylorus. In the latter case the fol- 

 lowing sj^nptoms are observed: Obstinate vomiting, lack of 

 appetite, sometimes intense thirst, excitement, frequent change 

 of posture, loud howling, groaning, inclination to bite, convul- 



