598 PROCTITIS. 



effected by suturing the wound early, or even at a later period if the 

 edges be freshened. 



Treatment. Treatment of perforating wounds of the rectum is 

 seldom desirable. Oxen and sheep are best killed at once. Should 

 the attempt be made, the rectum must first be carefully emptied, 

 food withheld, and water given only in small quantities. Clysters 

 are better avoided, because they favour the entrance of bowel contents 

 into the peritoneal cavity and peritonitis. Opium might possibly 

 be of service on account of its checking the movement of bowel con- 

 tents towards the injured spot. 



In injuries of the pelvic portion treatment is more hopeful. The 

 wound may be cleansed by clysters (which at the same time wash 

 out the contents of the rectum), containing salicylic acid, or carbolic 

 acid ; in horses, diluted sublimate solution (1 in 5,000). Roder 

 successfully sutured a recto-vaginal rupture ; recovery followed. 



Wounds in the neighbourhood of the anus may sometimes be 

 sutured and bleeding vessels ligatured. Cold water clysters serve 

 to check bleeding from the anterior parts of the bowel. It has also 

 been suggested to introduce a bladder or rubber balloon into the 

 rectum, and to exercise pressure on the bleeding vessels by inflating 

 it or filling it with water ; but its employment in animals is much 

 limited by its causing severe straining, and thus often proving more 

 dangerous than useful. The same is true of tamponing the rectum, 

 though in extreme cases one might certainly try it. 



As regards abscess-formation after injury to the rectum, see 

 succeeding pages. 



III.— INFLAMMATION OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANE OF THE 

 RECTUM AND ANUS (PROCTITIS). 



Apart from inflammation of the rectum and anus, produced 

 by gross injuries, inflammatory processes are seen in severe intestinal 

 catarrh, in dysentery, and after continuous diarrhoea, particularly 

 in young pigs and dogs. The same result may be produced by 

 clysters of too irritating a character, or administered too hot, by 

 parasites, and by very large masses of faeces. Schwanefeld found 

 a piece of broomstick, 8 inches in length, in the rectum of an ox. In 

 dogs, bones and firm masses of faeces often produce inflammation of 

 the mucous membrane. 



Inflammatory disease of the anus in the horse has been seen 

 after tearing away the larvae of cestridae, in carnivora in consequence 

 of rubbing the anus to allay the irritation of pruritus. In long-coated 



