2 PLANNING THE OPERATION. 



operations and operations which may be deferred ; of operations 

 on the skin, the muscles, bones, tendons, and so forth ; operations 

 on the head, neck, trunk, etc., names which require no explanation. 

 Urgent operations are such as cannot be postponed without gravely 

 endangering life. 



The indications and contra-indications for operation must be 

 carefully studied. Beginners are not infrequently over hasty in 

 this respect. For instance, they declare an operation indispensable ; 

 the owner refuses his consent, and nevertheless recovery results 

 under simple treatment, or even without any treatment at all. The 

 cliniques are perhaps somewhat to blame for this, as only severe 

 cases which must be operated on are usually brought there, and 

 even though in each case the special grounds which render operation 

 indispensable are set forth, the student is apt to retain only a general 

 impression, such as of a tumour and of the subsequent operation, 

 forgetting the explanatory remarks. Such mistakes are made at 

 first by everyone. Except in the case of urgent operations, like 

 tracheotomy for threatening suffocation, operation for strangulated 

 hernia, removal of a foreign body, etc., it is first necessary carefully 

 to consider whether the animal's value, its chance of perfect recovery, 

 and the probable duration of its convalescence, justify operation 

 at all. The need for operation and the clangers it implies must be 

 clearly placed before the owner. A wise practitioner, however, will 

 not, except in very urgent circumstances, insist on immediately 

 operating for fear of prejudicing his client, but after a moderate 

 expression of opinion will wait, knowing that the failure of other 

 means will finally force the owner himself to demand operation. 

 Definite promises should never be made in order to gain the owner's 

 consent, for, considering the extreme variability of wound-healing, 

 results can never be foretold with absolute certainty. When surgical 

 treatment can only have a temporary good effect and the disease 

 is likely to return, when improvement is only to be obtained by 

 sacrificing the animal's usefulness, or when the patient is old, or its 

 strength is too greatly reduced, the practitioner's duty to his client 

 is clearly to deprecate operation even if called upon to perform it. 

 In the last connection dogs suffering from malignant disease are often 

 submitted for operation in an extremely emaciated state. Should 

 they die under the operator's hands the fact is related to the surgeon's 

 discredit without any reference to the other circumstances. 



Planning the Operation. Before performing any operation the 

 operator should mentally enact the details of each of the proposed 

 stages. This mental process is unconsciously performed before the 



