Foreign Bodies in the Intestines of Carnivora. 339 



piece of net from which a cord extended through the small intes- 

 tine and ended in a ravelled mass near the ileo-csecal valve. The 

 dragging of the cord on the intestine often causes invagination 

 at one or several points. 



Symptoms. There may be slight colic, dullness, a disposition 

 to lie curled up in some secluded place, loss or caprice of appetite, 

 vomiting, tucked up abdomen, arching of the back, straining, 

 and unless the bowels are distended with gas, the obstruction can 

 usually be felt by the two hands applied on opposite sides of the 

 abdomen. The matters vomited are at first alimentary, then 

 bilious and in the advanced stages always feculent. 



The French veterinarians assure us that rabiform symptoms 

 are very common as the result of obstruction of the intestines 

 with foreign bodies. The indications are signs of fury without 

 the barking which characterizes genuine rabies. The patient 

 becomes wicked, cross and excitable, sometimes dull and morose, 

 and snappish, his eyes glittering and his mouth frothy. He has 

 alternate paroxysms of fury and torpor, at one time flying at 

 and biting any living thing he meets, or tearing some object to 

 pieces, and at another hiding away in secluded and dark corners. 

 Massenat saw two dogs supposed to be affected by rabies, but 

 which recovered promptly after having vomited the foreign 

 bodies which they had swallowed. In a country where rabies is 

 so prevalent as in France, it would be interesting to see the re- 

 sults of inoculation with some of the most pronounced of these 

 rabiform cases. 



Beside the rabiform symptoms cough and epileptic seizures 

 occasionally result from the foreign bodies. 



Course. Termination. Unless relief is obtained by vomiting 

 or purging, appetite ceases altogether, emaciation advances 

 rapidly, the animal becomes dull and stupid, being evidently 

 poisoned by the absorbed toxins, and death may ensue in four or 

 five days if the obstruction is near the stomach, or in one or two 

 weeks if in the large intestines. 



Treatment. The general treatment advised for the horse is 

 applicable to the carnivora. Purgatives are always dangerous as 

 threatening the overdistention and rupture of the bowel above 

 the obstruction. Oleaginous and mucilaginous injections with 

 manipulations are more promising if the obstruction is in the 

 colon or rectum. 



