162 The Care of Animals 



the bleeding will be checked. In the course of five or 

 six hours the bandage may be carefully removed, the 

 parts cleansed, antiseptics applied and the torn tissues 

 brought as nearly together as possible by the use of 

 bandages, or sutures. The after-treatment is the same 

 as for an ordinary wound. 



The hair about the edge of a wound should be care- 

 fully clipped, so that it will not get into the wound 

 and irritate it. After cleansing, apply to the wound 

 some good antiseptic or healing lotion or powder. 

 Among those commonly used are corrosive sublimate, 

 one part dissolved in one thousand parts of water, 

 carbolic acid, one part to thirty parts of water. White 

 lotion is excellent. Among powdered antiseptics, 

 acetanilid finely pulverized, or iodoform dusted on the 

 surface, are excellent. 



The next operation is to bring the lips of the wound 

 together and to keep them there. If the wound is large 

 the only practicable way, in treating animals, is to stitch 



the edges together. For 



Fig. 39. Surgeon's needle. y^ , i • i 



^-^ this purpose a surgeon's 



needle having cutting 

 edges is necessary. Fig. 

 89. A poor substitute for it can be made by grinding a 

 small darning-needle to a triangular form. It is prac- 

 tically impossible to push the ordinary type of sewing 

 needle through the thick skin of the larger animals. A 

 good-sized, half-curved surgeon's needle, which costs 

 but a few cents, should be kept on every stock farm 

 where a veterinarian is not at hand. For sewing, silk is 

 best. The coarser embroidery silks are good, but braided 



