424 FOREIGN BODIES IN THE PHARNYX AND (ESOPHAGUS OF CARNIVORA. 



manually. If the obstruction is in the pharyngeal pouch, pressure 

 must be exercised simultaneously on both sides directly over the 

 region of the larynx, and an effort made to push the contents of the 

 pouch upwards into the pharynx. Where the foreign body is fixed 

 in the top of the pharynx or just beyond it, Stockfleth advises that 

 the pig be laid on a table, when removal may sometimes be made 

 with a blunt hook, but if the object is deeper seated it may be pushed 

 downwards with a flexible stick. Teetz removed a piece of broom- 

 stick 12| inches long from the upper part of a pig's oesophagus. 

 Apomorphine can be tried as an emetic ; if this does not at once 

 succeed, fat pigs had better be slaughtered. (Esophagotomy may 

 be performed in those in poor condition ; it is scarcely more 

 difficult or dangerous than in other animals. Hering reports two 

 successful cases ; the wound healed without being sutured. Some- 

 times fistula results from this operation. 



(d.) FOREIGN BODIES IN THE PHARYNX AND (ESOPHAGUS 

 OF CARNIVORA. 



Reference has already been made to the occurrence and treatment 

 of foreign bodies in the mouth of dogs and cats. They occur usually 

 at the base of the tongue, often close under the epiglottis, though 

 sometimes behind the soft palate in the posterior wall or in the sides 

 of the pharynx. Removal must be effected according to the 

 directions before given. Bones, particularly vertebrae of birds and 

 game, fish-bones, needles, and other sharp objects, are liable to get 

 fixed immediately behind the pharynx and occasionally in the thoracic 

 portion of the gullet or just before it enters the stomach. Smooth 

 rounded objects are seldom found obstructing the oesophagus in 

 these animals ; they generally pass onwards to the stomach. 

 Reichenbach removed from a dog's oesophagus by incision a piece 

 of wood 4i inches long, § of an inch broad, and i an inch thick. 

 Restlessness, anxiety, retching and vomiting, avoidance of food 

 and drink, and most notably discharge of ropy saliva, suggest the 

 presence of a foreign body. Pressure on the oesophagus sometimes 

 gives pain. 



Sharp substances perforating the oesophagus in the neck portion 

 cause swelling and inflammation, in the thoracic portion, rapidly 

 fatal pleurisy. They can occasionally be successfully extracted by way 

 of the pharynx, as described in the chapter " Foreign Bodies in the 

 Mouth." The foreign body, when in the lower portion of the 



