TRAUMATIC LESIONS OF THE GENITAL ORGANS, ETC. 633 



The consequences are variable, according to the extent of tlie injury. 

 Moderate laceration does not usually prove very prejudicial j but if 

 severe, serious inflammation of the perinasum, extending sometimes to 

 neighboring tissues and organs, sets in. If the tear involves the anus and 

 its sphincter, there will be involuntary escape of fcecal matters and flatus ; 

 and in the most formidable cases — those in which the vagina and rectum 

 form one wide gaping cavity — the mucous membrane is irritated by the 

 free admission of air and excreta, inflammation and suppuration ensue, 

 fistulas are formed, and the poor animal only too often presents a painful 

 and repulsive spectacle. 



In other instances, partial recovery takes place, and the animals do not 

 appear to be much affected or inconvenienced. They maintain good health, 

 rear their progeny, if it chances to be born alive, and may even bring 

 forth young again, though the laceration has not cicatrized. 



The treatment will vary, according to circumstances. If there is much 

 hsemorrhage, styptics must be employed ; if the bleeding is slight, cold 

 may check it ; but if severe, perchloride of iron must be used. 



The lacerated margins, if much torn, must be freed from shreds, which 

 are likely to lose, or have already lost, their vitality. They must then be 

 brought together by sutures — either of metal, or carbolized silk or catgut. 

 Cold water dressings may then be applied; or styptic colloid, collodion, 

 or carbolized glycerine may be employed. The parts must be kept as 

 clean as possible, and the animal not disturbed or allowed to lie down 

 until union has been effected. With this object a narrow stall is to be 

 preferred. The sutured septum should be supported from the vagina by 

 a tampon placed therein. This will tend to prevent the pressure of faeces 

 tearing away the sutures in the floor of the rectum, and this result will 

 also be greatly obviated by administering enemas frequently, and cover- 

 ing the mucous membrane with lard. Sloppy food should be given as 

 diet. Fever and other unfavorable complications must be treated accord- 

 ing to their indications. Opiates will prove of great service ; and if there 

 is much local disturbance or straining, suppositories of opium are to be 

 recommended. 



There are not, so far as I can ascertain, any instances of this accident recorded in 

 English veterinary literature. We shall therefore give a few derived from foreign 

 sources. 



1. Cruzel (Journal de Med. Veterhtaire, 1832) mentions that a Mare, ten months preg- 

 nant, aborted a living Mule, one of whose limbs, during parturition, had passed through 

 the rectum. A veterinary surgeon attempted to extract it, but not succeeding owing to 

 the obstacle this limb presented, he prolonged the rupture to the anus. The Mare died 

 next day. 



2. The same authority saw a she-Ass which had the posterior third of the rectum 

 ruptured, as well as the anus. It was not much inconvenienced. 



3. Dupont [Recueil de Med. Veterinarire, 1858) relates that an empiric being called 

 upon to deliver a Mare in parturition, seeing the feet of the foal protruding from the 

 anus, knew nothing better than to pull at them, and thus extract the young creature 

 through the rectum. Four days afterwards Dupont was sent for, and he found that de- 

 fecation had not taken place for three days ; there was considerable tumefaction in the 

 ano-vulvar region: from the anus to the vulva all the textures were torn and bleeding, 

 and the external borders of the rupture overlapped each other in large swollen masses ; 

 the inferior parts of the vulva were covered by the continual escape of the vagino-intes- 

 tinal excretions. The injury-exhaled a very fetid odor. The rectum and vagina were 

 emptied of the faecal pellets which encumbered the vast cloaca, and then the injury was 

 seen to its full extent. From the cervix uteri to the roof of the intestine, the vagina and 

 rectum formed one vasf cavity. The flica p.xhnata of the cervix were visible as thick 

 dark-colored ridges, between which excrementitial debris was incrusted. Superiorly, 

 the rectum appeared gaping, and aspiring the air like the piston of a steam engine. 



