I20 CANINE AND FELINE SURGERY. 



In canine practice, in addition to the difficulty of diagnosing 

 tumour, calculus, or other disease of the kidney necessitating 

 its removal, we have the fact that (in the case of calculus at 

 all events), as a rule, when one kidney is affected the other 

 has also become affected before professional aid has been 

 sought. 



In thin animals the kidney can be removed by an incision 

 made in the median line, and this gives a little advantage 

 when uncertainty exists as to which is the diseased side. In 

 larger patients an incision is made in the flank just below the 

 lumbar region. The operation is not difficult ; the kidney is 

 carefully separated from its situation under the loins, two silk 

 ligatures are passed around its pedicle, and an incision is made 

 between them. The peritoneal wound is sutured and treated 

 in the usual way. 



Puncture of the Bladder. — This operation is most commonly 

 required for cats and the smaller varieties of dogs in which it is 

 impossible to pass the catheter. It is performed in order to 

 evacuate the contents of the bladder when this organ is over- 

 distended. 



The most convenient situation for operating is a spot in the 

 linea alba from about i to 3 inches (depending chiefly upon 

 the size of the patient) behind the brim of the pelvis, the 

 object being to pierce the bladder in a part where it is tense 

 and yet fairly close to the neck. The patient is very gently 

 placed on the back or side, the bladder being grasped care- 

 fully but firmly through the walls of the abdomen with one 

 hand and held as near the seat of operation as possible. 

 Having carefully applied antiseptics, a trocar and canula 

 (which should be of a fine bore) are inserted subcutaneously 

 for a short distance and then directly into the bladder. The 

 trocar is withdrawn and the urine allowed to escape. After- 

 treatment consists in withdrawing the canula carefully, drying 

 the surface of the wound and covering it with iodoform, or 

 orthoform, and collodion. 



It is risky to administer a general anaesthetic in the majority 



