CHAPTER IX. 

 RESTRAINT. 



While it might rightly be claimed that "restraint" be- 

 longs to the domain of operative surgery, it cannot be en- 

 tirely ignored as a principle of veterinary surgery. Its 

 details may well be left to the operative surgery, but its 

 principles belong here. There are certain elements which 

 enter into this feature of veterinary surgical operations 

 which demand the greatest attention from the student. No 

 description of restraint can be too thorough, and its details 

 must be built upon a well-laid foundation. It is a con- 

 spicuous part of veterinary surgery from three stand- 

 points; (i) The personal safety of the surgeon; (2) the pro- 

 tection of the patient against injury; and (3) the thoroughr 

 ness and exactness of the surgical technique. 



Every operation, no matter how brief or trivial, must 

 be preceded by some form of restraint from either or all of 

 these standpoints ; and each species, as well as each opera- 

 tion in each species, requires some special method of re- 

 straint to acquire control of the situation. The horse, the 

 ox, the dog, the cat, the bird and the wild animal are en- 

 countered in the course of a surgical career, and each of 

 them may forcibly resent the infliction of the least pain by 

 effectually using their particular organs of defense. The 

 horse will kick and strike, the ox will kick and hook, the 

 dog will bite, the cat will scratch and bite, and the bird will 

 peck with its beak. Among the wild animals the danger 

 is much greater. Their terrible claws and canines are capa- 

 ble of inflicting fatal injuries. Even such apparently harm- 

 less animals as reindeer and deer can disembowel a human 



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