198 CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY 



-with milk for the first two da)-s, the dogs being allowed as 

 much as they would drink. For the next four days minced 

 meat and boiled rice \\ere substituted, and the}' were then 

 allowed to eat anything. 



Prognosis and After-treatment. — This is already- described 

 on p. 179. 



Volvulus. 



Torsion of the intestine upon itself, so commonly met ^^•ith 

 in the horse, is comparativel}- rare in the dog or cat. 



The Symptoms come on suddenl}-, and are those of violent 

 pain, occasional vomiting, the patient being distressed, and the 

 abdomen distended. If not operated upon, strangulation of 

 the bloodvessels and gangrene of the intestine will precede 

 death, the animal being out of pain when this has taken 

 place. 



It may be surmised to exist by the history given by the 

 owner, and by the negative evidence of the existence of 

 direct obstruction, intussusception, etc., whilst its certainty 

 can only be demonstrated by an explorator)- laparotomy (see 

 p. 158), which should be done \\ithout delay if medicinal 

 agents (such as ether, ammonia, opium, chlorodyne, etc.) 

 fail to give relief \\-ithin a reasonable time. If volvulus is 

 found, an attempt should be made to untwist it. If this 

 is impossible, an enterectomy may be done (see p. 190), or the 

 patient may be painlessK- destro_\-ed by a dose of Scheele's 

 hydroc)-anic acid administered intra-thoracically before con- 

 -sciousness returns. 



Stricture of the Bowel. 



Occurring most frequently in the rectum, the only remedy 

 for this condition hes in enterectomy (see p. 190), but, as it 

 is usually associated with other conditions, it is generall)- the 

 most humane course to put the patient painlessh- away.^ 



' Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics, vol. x., p. 173. 



