94 CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY. 



It is really wonderful how little inconvenience dogs appear 

 to suffer from wounds caused by meat skewers, hat pins, 

 needles, etc., in the stomach, even when no antiseptic or 

 surgical precautions are taken. During the past few years 

 quite a number of cases have been recorded by Wolstenholme, 

 Ferryman, Brookshanks, Tutt, R. Gillard,i Woodruff,^ and 

 others,^ in which foreign bodies have been carried for a length 

 of time in the stomach of the dog or cat, without causing any 

 more alarming symptom than the formation of an abscess in 

 the side. 



Operation for Intussusception of the Intestine. — Intussus- 

 ception of the intestine is most commonly met with in young 

 animals, although it is by no means of very rare occurrence 

 in adults. It is diagnosed without much difficulty in thin 

 patients, being perceptible through the abdominal walls as a 

 soft tumour-like swelling along the course of the intestine, but 

 in fat animals it is very difficult to differentiate between this 

 and other obstructions, the symptoms being very similar. The 

 surgical method of affording relief consists in the performance 

 of laparotomy, and the replacing of the gut into its natural 

 situation by means of the fingers. If the intussusception is of 

 recent origin this can be done without any difficulty, but if it 

 has existed for some time adhesions will have formed and 

 the outlook is much more serious. If these adhesions can be 

 broken down without materially injuring the bowel wall, this 

 should be done ; if not, the whole piece must be excised (see 

 enterectomy). 



Operation for Impaction of the Intestine. — An obstinate 

 impaction of the intestine is particularly met with in shooting 

 dogs, being usually ascribed to their over-indulgence in game 

 bones. Three cases have been met with by the author during 



1 "Veterinary Eecord," Vol. VII., pp. 187, 295 ; Vol. X., p. 206; Vol. XI., pp. 376, 

 -134. 



■ "The Veterinary Student," Vol. I., No. 2, p. 2. 



■* "Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics," Vol. VIII., p. 254; Vol. 

 X., p. 360. 



