Intestinal Invagination in Dogs and Cats. 357 



Treatment. By a happy accident the peristalsis or anti-peris- 

 talsis determined by a purgative will sometimes disengage the in- 

 tussuscepted bowel. Copious injections into the rectum may also 

 prove useful in case of intussusception of the floating colon or 

 rectum. Or the disengagement of carbon dioxide from the in- 

 jection of solutions of sodium bicarbonate and tartaric acid may 

 be tried. Laparotomy is however the most radical measure when 

 a certain diagnosis has been made and this is less dangerous in 

 the cow than in the horse in which peritonitis is so grave. 

 Under antiseptic precautions an incision is made in the right 

 flank and the invagination found and reduced. In case firm ad- 

 hesions have already taken place, and above all if the included 

 gut is apparently gangrenous, the latter may be exposed by 

 breaking down the connections at the side opposite to the attach- 

 ment of the mesentery, or where the lesions are least firm, 

 then cutting out and removing the incarcerated gut and carefully 

 closing the opening between the ends by suture. The use of a 

 sublimate or carbolic acid solution and careful suturing and ban- 

 daging of the external wound with carbolated cotton wool will 

 often give a successful issue. 



INTESTINAL INVAGINATION IN DOGS AND CATS. 



Anatomical conditions favor. Causes : as in other animals, common in 

 icterus, and surgical operations from deranged peristalsis. Lesions : most 

 common in small intestines, congestion, inflammation, necrosis, sloughing. 

 Symptoms : may be colic, but not always, dullness, anorexia, vomiting, con- 

 stipation, palpation, swelling firmer than from impacted twine. Treat- 

 ment: shot, castor oil and exercise on hind legs. Demulcents. Lapa- 

 rotomy. 



The intestines of the carnivora are more open to invagination 

 than in other domestic animals for even the colon is free enough 

 throughout its course to allow of one part sliding into another. 

 The causes to which it is attributed are in kind the same as in 

 other domestic animals. The swallowing of ice cold water 

 in excess when heated, diarrhoea, superpurgation, intestinal 

 worms, the active peristalsis of early life, and jaundice have 

 been especially blamed. Reynal found intussusception twenty 



