174 CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY 



successfully removed ; whilst Fig. 125 shows the skiagraph of 

 a kitten which had swallowed a lady's hatpin 6 inches long. 



Coins and such small articles are readily swallowed. 

 Copper coins undergo corrosion in the stomach or intestine, 

 and in time cause serious illness and death if not removed. 

 Silver coins merely tarnish, and, unless they cause mechanical 

 obstruction, need give rise to no alarm. 



The author on one occasion found, on post-inorlcin (made for the 

 purpose by the owner's request), a two-shilling piece which the dog had 

 been seen to swallow five years previously. It had made a sac for itself 

 in a portion of the stomach wall, and, beyond being tarnished, was quite 

 undamaged ; nor had it given the patient any inconvenience, the animal 

 being fat and well when destroyed by a dose of hydrocyanic acid. 



Of other foreig-n bodies the variety may be legion. 



Mr. S. 'Qi.XiXi^XX {Veterinary Journal, vol. Ix., [3. 318) has recorded a 

 case in which a fish-hook was found in the rectum of a cat. Mr. F. 

 -Spencer has recorded an instance of the greater portion of a lamb's foot 

 passed per aniiin, with the hair still on it {Vetcrinaiy Record, vol. xv., 

 p. 409) ; and the author on one occasion discovered a valuable diamond 

 collar stud which the owner had missed and suspected his dog of 

 swallowing. The patient depicted in the photographs (Figs. 126 and 127) 

 was operated upon by Mr. \\'. H. Chase, the dog having swallowed a 

 hard composition cricket-ball when playing with some children.^ 



Professor Udrischi, of Bucharest, successfully removed a lady's hairpin 

 from the stomach of a kitten, the article having accidentally slipped down 

 the patient's throat whilst it was being used as an improvised tongue 

 depressor.^ Mr. A. S. Hodgkins has recorded a piece of lead pipe \ inch 

 thick, 2 inches long, and li ounces in weight, vomited from the stomach 

 of a toy Yorkshire, only 7 pounds weight herself.^ 



Symptoms. — In many instances the patient has shown no 

 illness whatever until, in the case of a hatpin or skewer, an 

 abscess swelling has been observed under the skin. The most 

 common situation in which this is met with is the right or left 

 side, between som.e of the last ribs, the oesophageal region, and 

 the flank (from an inch to 2 inches above the hnea alba). 



1 Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics, September, 190 

 ' Veterinary News, July, 1905 (translated from Archiva Vetcrinaria) 

 ■' Veterinary Record, vol., .xiv., p. 147. 



i2. 



