94 



CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY 



extensive, a puppy or kitten with this defect dies within three 

 or four da}'S of starvation. 



Operation for Hare-lip.— To operate on a hare-hp, either 

 cocaine or chloroform anaesthesia may be employed, the 

 patient being secured in the abdominal position. With a sharp 

 scalpel or scissors the edges of the cleft are scarified until they 

 bleed, or a portion of them is cut awa>-. The mucous mem- 



Fig. 66. — A Bulldog Puppy, Five 

 Months old, with Unilateral 

 Hare-lip and Cleft Palate, before 

 Operation. 



Fig. 67. — The same Puppj' 

 after Operation. 



brane uniting the under surface of the lip to the gum is then 

 dissected away until the lip is so loose that no tension will 

 be put on the sutures, and the raw edges are united with 

 sutures. For the latter some material, such as silk, catgut, 

 soft wire, or kangaroo tendon, of fair thickness is preferable, 

 as a good deal of swelling occurs, and the patient is apt to 

 lick the parts freely. If either silkworm gut or thin silk is 

 used, it is apt to cut its way through the tissues before 



