THE FEMALE GENERATIVE ORGANS 



295 



twelve months for the bitch, and from three to nine months 

 for the cat, seem to be the most favourable. 



Operation.— Y{zN\x\g previously had the abdominal wall 

 around the seat of incision carefully cleansed and shaved, a 

 pad of antiseptic material is put over the part and the 

 animal placed on the operating-table to be anaesthetized ; 

 when unconscious the patient is turned over and iixed on its 

 back, with the limbs well spread apart. The antiseptic pad 



Fig. 186. — Diseased Uterus and Ovary removed by Operation from a 



Bull Bitch. 



The horns were full of pus. The right ovary was normal and weighed 8 grains ; the 



left one was diseased and weighed 2^ ounces. 



is removed, the skin being lightly scrubbed with ether and 

 again washed with antiseptic lotion. A longitudinal incision 

 of from about half an inch to an inch long is made through 

 the skin and muscular tissue on or close to the median line 

 just behind the umbilicus, all bloodvessels being carefully 

 taken up with artery forceps before the peritoneum is pierced. 

 The latter is done with the point of a scalpel, the incision 

 being completed with the aid of a director. At this stage a 

 blunt probe or flexible catheter may be inserted by an 



