16 PRINCIPLES OF VEterii^ary siIrGErV 



ments extremely painful or impossible, the respirations ac- 

 celerated and the appetite nil. The afifected area is first hot, 

 but soon becomes cold and moist. The skin will be found 

 oozing a thin serum. If, by chance, the patient's life is 

 spared, the gangrenous area sloughs off in great chunks, 

 leaving sections of living tissues here and there, that have 

 escaped the entire force of the morbid phenomenon. In 

 the limbs the skin and subjacent tissues may slough off at 

 numerous points and in large sections as from the elbow to 

 the foot. Cicatrization is slow and imperfect and usually its 

 constricting tendency leaves the subject a hopelessly 

 blemished cripple for life. 



TREATMENT. — In the treatment of the various 

 gangrenous conditions of animals, it must be re- 

 member-ed that the damage is already done at the 

 time treatment usually begins, and as a consequence 

 there is no possibility of preventing the impending 

 death of the affected area. In surgical operations 

 gangrene must be prevented by preserving large vessels 

 instead of sacrificing them to the knife. Bandage .necrosis, 

 stitch necrosis and decubitus are to be prevented rather than 

 cured. When once the circulation of a given part is occluded 

 no form of treatment will revive it, and hence treatment 

 aiming to limit the extent of the dying area will always fail. 

 Hot fomentations may occasionally serve to augment the 

 collateral circulation and thus enlarge the limits of the 

 surrounding viable tissues. The dying area must, however, 

 be constantly immersed in antiseptics to prevent putrefac- 

 tion. With this precaution the absorption of septic products 

 is materially lessened and as a consequence the affected part 

 may be given ample time to separate completely from the 

 living tissues before it is removed. It is only when the 

 systemic symptoms are grave and threatening that prema- 

 ture extirpation of the gangrenous area is beneficial. That 



