296 CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY 



assistant into the vagina, if the operator has not had much 



previous experience ; this generally penetrates as far as the 



OS uteri, occasionally passing into one of the cornua, and acts 



as a guide. The operator introduces the fore or middle 



finger of his right hand, or a blunt hook, into the abdomen, 



keeping it close to the abdominal wall and pushing the 



intestines on one side, the object being to find one of the 



cornua or the body of the uterus in which is contained the 



probe which an assistant is moving cautiously about. 



Having found this, it becomes an easy matter to follow up 



each horn in turn until the ovary is reached. 



In young animals the latter may be simply scraped off 



with a blunt scalpel, but in older ones it is advisable to 



ligature above and below the ovary with aseptic silk before 



excising. In either case care must be taken to see that the 



whole of the ovary is removed, or the animal will still be 



liable to become pregnant,-' thus defeating one of the main 



objects of the operation. The cut ends of the cornua are 



returned into the abdomen, the wound in the abdominal 



wall being treated as already described (see Laparotomy). 



If only one ovary is removed, the animal will readily become 



pregnant again. 



As an instance of pregnancy when a small piece of ovarian tissue is 

 left, on one occasion the author snipped off each ovary with sharp scissors 

 as closely as possible, without injuring the Fallopian tubes or the attach- 

 ment of the uterine horns to the lumbar peritoneum, or using any ligatures. 

 Apparently every particle of ovarian tissue was removed so far as the 

 naked eye could see, but in reality a microscopical portion in each case 

 must have been left, as within three months the patient, a cat, had two 

 kittens. Laparotomy was performed a second time, and it was found 

 that the ovarian tissue had already become regenerated, on one side to 

 the size of a pea, and on the other to the size of a horse-bean. Both were 

 cystic. They were removed, this time after the application of a ligature, 

 and the patient did well. 



The results are excellent- if antiseptic precautions are 



' Veterinary Record, \'o\. xii., p. 15. 



^ Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics, vol. x., p. 175, 

 vol. xi., p. 254; Veterinary Record, vol. xii., p. 14. 



