152 CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY 



but the animal may live for some time after a very extensive 

 injury, and may even ultirhately recover. 



A lurcher dog- brought for treatment, suffering from injuries the result of 

 a fight rather more than a quarter of an hour before, had the left shoulder 

 almost completely torn away, the thoracic muscles being frightfully 

 lacerated, and the heart and lungs exposed to \ie\v. The patient was 

 perfectly conscious, but successful remedial measures were impossible, 

 and a dose of hydrocyanic acid terminated its sufferings. 



A fox-terrier dog,' two or three years old, had a punctured wound of 

 the lower part of the thorax, between the fifth and sixth (or six and seventh) 

 ribs on the right side, the result of contact with spiked palings. The 

 lung was not collapsed, and with each inspiration came into view. The 

 wound was cleansed thoroughly, sutured, and treated antiseptically, 

 the patient making an excellent recovery. The skin wound measured 

 3 inches in length, and the wound through the thoracic muscles into the 

 chest cavity was rather more than half an inch in length. 



When pus forms in the pleural cavity the condition is 

 termed empyema. Its treatment in canine and feline patients, 

 unless localized to a slight area, is practically hopeless. 



Fractured ribs are often not easily diagnosed, and that the 

 last rib is a ' floating ' rib is a point which must not be lost 

 sight of, as its unattached extremity has frequently been 

 mistaken for a fracture. The fracture can only be detected 

 by the pain exhibited upon manual examination, or by sounds 

 of crepitus, and is suspected by the history given and the 

 intense disinclination to move exhibited by the patient. 

 Respiration, too, may be hurried and painful. 



Treatment consists in the tight application of a sheet of 

 cotton-wool and a rolled bandage around the ribs, in order to 

 afford them as much rest as possible, and to keep them in 

 position. This should be allowed to stay on for a fortnight 

 or three weeks, the patient being kept quiet and dieted 

 sparingly and frequently on food which does not distend the 

 stomach, which is laxative in character. 



' Jou7-iuil of Comparative Pathology iiiid Therapeutics, vol. ix., p. 153. 



