GASTRO-HYSTEROTOMY, OR THE CESAREAN SECTION. 561 



The diet should be light and sloppy for a short time, unless the animal 

 is very feeble, when nourishing food must be given. 



With the smaller animals the treatment will be the same. For enlarg- 

 ing the abdominal and peritoneal incisions, small sharp scissors will be 

 found very useful and safe, the blade with the blunt point being intro- 

 duced. 



The bad results to be apprehended from the operation are septic 

 metritis, or peritonitis, or both ; abscess at the seat of the incision, or 

 adhesion of the abdominal organs to this part. 



As the subject is particularly interesting and important, we shall en- 

 deavor to give the first complete list of cases of gastro-hysterotomy which 

 has yet been published. 



1. Youatt [Cattle, 1834) states that he had twice attempted the operation, but in 

 neither instance did he save either the Cow or Calf. 



2. Berry {Veteriiiarian, vol. xii., p. 709) records a case of extra-uterine foetation, in 

 which the operation was performed by a medical man, but the Heifer died. 



3. Ellis [Ibid., loc. cit.) : Operation on a Sow which could not farrow because of the 

 immense size of the foetuses, which were in a state of decomposition. The operation 

 had been delayed too long, however, and the animal died. Ellis rnentions -that he 

 had twice successfully performed the Caesarean Section on the Bitch. 



. 4, 5. Carlisle [Ibid., vol. xiii., p. 121) operated on a Sow (flank) which had been in 

 labor for six days, and had gone ten days beyond the ordinary period of pregnancy. 

 The foetuses, seven in number, were dead, but the Sow recovered. He states that, 

 sixteen years previously (he writes in 1839), a farrier residing near Carlisle had per- 

 formed the operation on a Mare, and with success. " The poor animal was sadly 

 mutilated."' 



6, 7, 8, 9, 10, II, 12, 13, 14. Hayes, in 1824 [Ibid., loc. cit., p. 267), had a kind of ex- 

 perimental operation upon a Bitch, removing six puppies alive, but one died on the 

 following day. The remainder, with the Bitch, did well. ' 



In 1825, he tried to remove a Calf by embryotomy (head very large, and deviated to- 

 wards the flank), but could not succeed : gastro-hysterotomy was resorted to, and the 

 Cow was doing well until the twelfth day, when it suddenly died. The diaphragm was 

 found to be ruptured and gangrenous. 



A third case occurred in a very old Cow, that had 'exceeded the usual period of ges- 

 tation about seventeen days. The foetus, could not be extracted by embryotomy ; the 

 pelvis being too small. After the Caesarean section, no untoward symptoms appeared, 

 and the animal was quite recovered in nine weeks. 



The same practitioner states : " Since that time I have operated successfully on two 

 Cows and one Sow. Three other Cows on which I operated died, in three, six and 

 eight days afterwards ; two of these were affected with severe peritonitis. 



15. Carlisle [Ibid., loc. cit., 1^. spi) performed the flank operation for torsion of the 

 uterus. The Cow died from strangulation of the intestines. 



16. Bowles [Proc. of the Veterinary Medical Association, 1839 — 40) describes a case in 

 which the parent was killed, and the foetus extracted by the Caesarean Section. 



17. Younghusband [Ibid.) records the case of a Cow which had been in labor for 

 some time, and the os uteri of which was completely occluded. The animal was extremely 

 exhausted, and the foetus seemed to be dead. As the case appeared to be a hopeless 

 one, it was resolved to spare the Cow further pain by killing it. This was done by 

 blowing into the jugular vein, and at the moment the animal expired the foetus was 

 seen to move strongly. The abdomen was at once opened by a long knife, the uterus 

 incised, and a living'Calf extracted. This being well attended to, in two days it was 

 able to drink milk wdthout assistance, and was afterwards reared successfully. 



i3. Morgan ( Veterinarian, vol. xxix., p. 698) attended a Sow which could not farrow 

 [all her pigs — only two having been born. One was extracted /^r vaginam by the crotch- 

 iCt, but as the animal was sinking, it was decided to resort to gastro-hysterotomy. The 

 [■operation was performed in the right flank ; only one foetus remained, and this was 

 ■taken away. The Sow recovered in a short time. The incision in the uterus was su- 

 ; tared. When the animal was fatted and killed, two months afterwards, it was found that 

 [adhesion had taken place between the organ and contiguous intestine, and that an 

 [abscess had formed, from which a sinus could be traced into the intestinal canal. The 

 fright ovary was destroyed. 



19. Brooks and "Whitworth [Ibid., vol. xxxix., p. 33) relate the history of a Bitch, 



36 



