Volvulus ( Twisting^ of the Intestine in Solipeds. 353 



being- free from any restraint by omental or mesenteric bands is 

 especially liable to torsion. Palat found four cases of torsion of 

 the colon to one of the small intestine, and Schutze gives the ratio 

 as 55 of the first to 13 of the second. 



The cKcum has been frequently found twisted upon itself with 

 a portion of the small intestine rolled round it. 



The floating colon like the small inte.stine is rolled around its 

 mesenteric axis, but cases are much more rare than in the case of 

 the small intestine. 



In a recent and complete twisting with obstruction of the 

 bowel, the loop of intestine is distended with gas the result of 

 fermentation of its contents, and its walls may be thin and pale. 

 Much more commonly and when the lesion is of longer stand- 

 ing there is hyperaemia, and infiltration and thickening with 

 inflammatory products, and blood extravasations. At the seat of 

 torsion the compressed intestine is congested, covered with pete- 

 chise, and its peritoneal surface with fibrinous exudate tending to 

 bind the parts together. I^ater there may be seen spots of necro- 

 sis and perforating sores and semi-detached slotighs, or the whole 

 mass of twisted bowel may be gangrenous. The patient usually 

 dies before this last stage has been reached. If the animal sur- 

 vives long enough the lesions of infective peritonitis are constantly 

 present. 



Symptoms. The disease usually sets in suddenly with intense 

 severity. In exceptional cases there is an insidious onset, the 

 twist being at first but partial and gradually increasing and for a 

 time the contents pass on in a restricted but still physiological 

 manner. Colics at first slight become by degrees more and more 

 intense until all the symptoms of obstruction and acute inflamma- 

 tion are developed. 



More commonly symptoms of extreme gravity appear at once, 

 the patient stops, paws, kicks at his belly, tries to lie down, strains 

 to defecate or urinate, lies down, rolls, sits, gets up and moves 

 round uneasily trying to lie down again. He looks at the flank 

 with anxious eye and countenance and has all indications of the 

 most violent colic. Pain is constant, but worse at one time than 

 another, the pulse is from 50 to 90 and becomes weak and even 

 imperceptible as the case advances, and hyperthermia, at first 

 slight or absent rises with the onset of inflammation. Finally 



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