HERNIA 



227 



to reduce the abnormality, especiall)- in the more active 

 breeds, as the skin over the rupture is always very thin, 

 and it has onlj- to become lacerated in order to expose the 

 abdominal organs, and possibly give rise to a fatal peritonitis. 

 Continual lying on the skin of the abdomen is apt to cause 

 ulceration of the skin and subsequent adhesions of the con- 

 tents to the sac. Occasionally, as the patient reaches one 

 or two years of age and the tissues become stronger, the 

 hernia will disappear, or will become so reduced in size as to 

 give no cause for anxiety. 



Treatment. — A small hernia may be reduced by the aid of a 

 rounded strip of cork affixed over the swelling b}' strips of 

 plaster. In a quiet puppy this is well worth a trial. If that 

 fails, the radical operation will usually bring about a complete 

 and permanent cure. 



The skin is sha\'ed, scrubbed, and carefully incised direct!)' 

 over the centre of the swelling by the aid of a scalpel and 

 director. The contents of the sac are returned into the 

 abdomen, all adhesions to the edges of the ring being broken 

 down. The edges of the dilated umbilical ring are refreshed 

 so as to give a raw surface and drawn together with silk or 

 gut sutures, the skin sutured with silk\\orm gut, and the 

 wound coated with collodion and iodoform (or orthoform). 



Sometimes a simple solution of the difficulty consists in 

 excising a portion of the omentum and returning the re- 

 mainder into the abdomen before suturing the ring as 

 mentioned above. 



Abdominal (or Ventral) Hernia. 



The term ' ventral (or abdominal) hernia ' is applied to a 

 protrusion of some of the internal organs through a hole in 

 the abdominal wall in some situation other than the umbilical, 

 inguinal, perineal, scrotal or femoral regions. It may be of 

 large size, and can generally be traced to some injury, such as 



15—2 



