296 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



Contused or lacerated avounds. — These are usually caused by a 

 blow with some blunt instrument or falls. The seriousness depends 

 largely on the depth of the injury, and treatment should be directed 

 to allaying the inflammation and preventing the consequent tendency 

 to sloughing. To this end soothing applications, such as antiseptic 

 fomentations and poultices, are plainly indicated. 



Methods or healing. — Technically these may be divided into a 

 number of distinct processes, but practically we may speak of them, 

 as two only, namely, by primary union, or adhesion, and by granu- 

 lation. As suppuration is not so liable to occur in cattle as in horses, 

 healing by the former and more speedy process is much more com- 

 mon in the first-named species, more particularly in clean-cut or 

 incised wounds, provided they have been stitched within 12 hours 

 from the time the injury which caused them was inflicted, that they 

 have been kept antiseptically clean, and that the patient by some 

 means has been kept fairly still. This latter stipulation is probably 

 hardest to comply with. Quiet is an important factor in the proc- 

 ess of repair among the lower animals. 



The second method of healing, namely, by granulation, which is, 

 however, the manner in which most wounds in animals heal, takes 

 much longer. In punctured wounds of any depth healing neces- 

 sarily takes place in this way only, and the treatment should be di- 

 rected largely to alleviating pain and moderating inflammation. 



After-treatment and dressing of w^ounds. — The dressing of 

 wounds is one of the most important branches of veterinary surgery, 

 and one of the most constant difficulties that the practicing veterina^ 

 rian has to contend with lies in the lack of cooperation on the part of 

 owners in the care and attention in the after-treatment of wounds. 



In summarizing the treatment of wounds, the following recom- 

 mendations should be observed: wounds must be cleansed and kept 

 clean, using antiseptic solutions which do not produce irritation, and 

 applying the solutions with a syringe or with clean pieces of ab- 

 sorbent cotton. Bleeding should be stopped before the closing of 

 the Avound by sutures or bandages. An opening at the bottom of all 

 wounds except small superficial wounds should be provided as a 

 drainage outlet for the escape of wound secretions or pus if it should 

 form. The edges of wounds and the muscles involved in the wound 

 should be kept as quiet as possible during the process of healing. 

 Every wound should be protected by a sterile or antiseptic dressing 

 Avhenever it is possible to retain a dressing in place. Dressings 

 should be changed when it is apparent that they have become 

 drenched with wound secretions or pus, or have become disarranged 

 or too loose, permitting dirt to enter between them and the skin. If 

 sAvelling appears beyond the edges of a bandage, it is an indication 

 that it is too tight and it should then be removed and again applied. 



