• DIGESTIVE ORGANS— CONTINUED. 791 



STRANGULATION OF THE INTESTINES III OXEN— OUT-TEE. 



This is seen only in steers and working oxen, and may arise 

 from various causes. The small intestine is generally tied with a 

 distinct cord. Sometimes it is the. spermatic cord, which, after un- 

 skillful castration, or by accident, has been retracted into the belly. 

 Oftener it is an unnaturally formed membrane, which has become 

 entangled around the intestine, and assumes the appearance of a 

 cord. 



Symptoms. — There is loss of appetite, the animal appears to be 

 griped, he strikes at his belly with his hind legs, lies down, and as 

 he gets up bows his back in a peculiar way, and stretching out every 

 limb, gives the spinal column a slightly concave form. The symp- 

 toms become more alarming. The disease continues six, seven, of 

 eight days, yielding to no medicine, but seeming to be aggravated by 

 most of the measures adopted. 



Treatment.-^-TZ.elief is to be obtained only by an operation. The 

 animal is either held by assistants, as directed for rumenotomy (Fig. 

 1027), with the left side to the wall, of cast, care being taken to 

 place the sufferer on the left side. A noose is formed in the center 

 of a strong rope, and passed around the neck. The ends of the rope 

 are carried between the fore legs, ithen drawn through the ring upon 

 the hobble on each hind fetlock, and afterwards through the rope 

 collar on each side. 



The head being secured, force is applied to one rope in a line 

 with the body (the pullers being behind), and to the other at right 

 angles, or from the side. The animal falls, and the ropes must be 

 secured by drawing into knots at the collar, or else around the fetlock 

 of the hind feet. An incision is made in the right flank to admit 

 the hand, at a point opposite that marked a in Fig. 1040. Each ab- 

 dominal ring is examined, and the intestine is liberated. The 

 wound should then be sewed up, and the animal afterward treated 

 as directed for rumenotomy. It is best to employ a veterinary 

 surgeon for the operation. 



