BLEEDING CATTLE, SHEEP, AND GOATS. 



DO 



is particularly useful for laboratory work, and avoids almost all 

 the risks formerly appertaining to phlebotomy of the jugular. 

 When the necessary amount of blood has been abstracted, a blunt 

 trocar is inserted into the cannula to prevent air entering the vein, 

 and the combined instrument withdrawn. The wound is dressed 

 antiseptically and closed with a single suture, or may be left open. 



In cattle the jugular vein is also opened. The animal's head is 

 raised by grasping the horns and the eyes covered. The hair is 

 clipped away from the seat of operation, the bleeding cord previously 

 mentioned adjusted, and the vessel opened just above the point of 

 compression by means of the fleam. The operator stands as in 

 bleeding a horse. In small cattle one may even stand on the side 

 opposite to that of operation and lean over the animal. This 



Fig. 1S4. — Dieckerhoff's bleeding cannula. 



method has the advantage that the operator cannot well be struck 

 by the animal when, as occasionally happens, it kicks in a forward 

 direction. On account of the loose arrangement of the skin in oxen it 

 is not necessary, though it is advisable, to insert a suture. 



Bleeding from the mammary vein was formerly practised in diseases 

 of the udder and of abdominal organs, but possesses no special advan- 

 tage over bleeding from the jugular, while it is less easily carried out, 

 and is dangerous to the operator, who has to work in a constrained 

 position, and runs grave risk of being kicked by the patient. Moreover 

 the wound is very liable to infection. 



Sheep and goats may also be bled from the jugular, but as a rule 

 the facial vein in the neighbourhood of the fourth molar is selected. 

 It yields little blood, but this is by no means an unmitigated evil, as 

 sheep and goats are very liable to serious symptoms after bleeding. 



