OTHER AFFECTIONS OF THE LIVER 109 



Pathological Anatomy. — There are two stages in this disease. In 

 the first stage the liver is very much enlarged and hard, the edges of 

 the lobes are blunt on the surface, there are a number of uneven de- 

 pressions. On making a transverse section, we find a net-work of red- 

 dish-gray tissues that surround the lobules; later on this involves the 

 lobules themselves. In the second stage we find a cicatricial contraction, 

 of newly formed tissue, and at the same time the disappearance of the true 

 tissue of the liver. The liver then becomes gradvuilly smaller and has 

 a very irregular surface; the capsule is thickened and in some places de- 

 pressed; the tissue is hard and tough when cut with a knife. 



Clinical Symptoms. — The disease generally starts withovit any 

 visible symptoms, although it is a common disease in old dogs that have 

 lived well. When the disease has become pretty well advanced we find 

 evidences of an interference in the portal circulation by the appearance 

 of ascites and chronic catarrh of the stomach. "With these symptoms 

 we also find a tendency to constipation with occasional changes to diar- 

 rhoea. In rare instances a certain amount of icterus is present. This 

 is due either to the interference with the passage of the bile from the 

 gall bladder by catarrh of the duodenum or to a contracted condi- 

 tion of the small bile-ducts. There is no pain on pressure in the region 

 of the liver, even in the advanced stages of the disease. After removing 

 the fluid, the outline of the liver can be felt by palpation. 



The disease is generally very slow, but ends fatally; when there is 

 ascites and some oedema of the extremities present, the end is not far 

 off. 



Therapeutics. — This consists in treating the case as if it were one of 

 catarrh of the stomach, by means of saline purgatives and, if ascites is 

 present, by puncture. The disease should be regarded as incurable. 



3. Purulent Inflammation of the Liver (Abscess of the Liver). — 

 This may be caused by injuries, such as blows or kicks, externally, or 

 from foreign bodies or perforating abscesses coming from the stomach, 

 from metastasis from phlebitis and thrombus undergoing purulent de- 

 struction, and from pyemia in abscess of the stomach, and in the bile- 

 ducts from the presence of gall-stones or parasites. 



Pathological Anatomy. — Abscesses of the liver appear singly but 

 may be present in large numbers; the traumatic abscess is generally 

 solitary and the metastatic, multiple. The pus is cream-like and in 

 some instances foetid and reddish-green in color. Small abscesses may 

 heal by absorption, but the large ones open into the abdominal cavity 

 and cause fatal peritonitis. 



Icterus symptoms, with frequent chills, point to abscess of the 

 liver. Treatment is useless. 



Fatty Liver (Hepar Adiposum). — This is an abnormal diffuse fatty 



