THE FEMALE GENERATIVE ORGANS 297 



observed. The chief unfavourable sequelae to be feared are 

 those of shock, peritonitis, descent of the bowels, hernia, and 

 persistent disinclination to feed. The first and last mentioned 

 have sometimes given rise to anxiet}-, especially in cats, 

 several patients having refused to feed, although apparentl}' 

 all right in every other particular, and post-mortem examina- 

 tions have given no clue as to the cause of death. Iodoform 

 powder and other dressings which are at all poisonous 

 should be avoided for wounds on small dogs and cats, and 

 we have had opportunity to prove that iodoform dressings 

 are toxic. Peritonitis can be avoided by rigid attention to 

 antiseptic precautions, and by puttmg the animals in a clean 

 place after the operation. This assertion is made upon the 

 carefully recorded results of more than 250 consecutive 

 oophorectomies or ovariotomies in the bitch, in no single 

 instance of which did death occur from peritonitis or any 

 other cause. To avoid hernia and descent of the bowels, the 

 patient should be kept quiet, and not be allowed to jump 

 from any height, or go up and down steps, for two or three 

 weeks after the operation. 



One cat patient unexpectedly developed most peculiar and 

 vicious maniacal propensities immediately after the operation, 

 and ultimately became paralyzed in the hind-quarters, a 

 post-mortem examination revealing nothing whatever to 

 account for death. With cats one can never give so con- 

 fident a prognosis as to the sequel as with a bitch. 



By way of illustrating how little disturbance the operation causes when 

 done under chloroform and antiseptic precautions, the following case 

 (No. 54 of a series published in the Veterinary Record iox July 8, 1899) is 

 worth recording. An Irish terrier, aged eighteen months, in oestrum, 

 had the urinary bladder very much distended at the time of operating, 

 and, by an unfortunate slip of the scalpel, this organ was incised. A 

 quantity of urine escaped into the abdominal cavity, being afterwards 

 soaked up with antiseptic wadding, and the bladder wound was closed 

 by three Lambert's sutures. The oophorectomy was proceeded with 

 and finished in the usual way. The cutaneous wound healed by first 

 intention, the sutures being removed four days later. An absolutely 



