202 PRINCIPLES OF VETERINARY SURGERY 



infliction of the least pain. The cat is fairly complacent 

 unless forcibly handled or injured, and because of its known 

 propensities to claw, the surgeon is seldom caught una- 

 wares. 



Personal injury sustained from surgical patients can- 

 not be looked upon in the light of misfortune. It is more an 

 exemplification of unskillfulness, clumsiness, carelessness 

 or inexperience. To know the habits of our patients, to 

 understand how to approach them, to devise ingenious and 

 effectual methods of controlling them, and to be ever on 

 the alert for personal injury, are attainments of no small 

 importance. They are essential. Although the inborn 

 faculty which enables one to effectually command a situa- 

 tion, whether encountered in the pig-sty, stable or parlor, 

 is not possessed by all, thoughtfulness and a little exper- 

 ience will soon develop the essential accomplishments. 



The patient must also be protected against injury, es- 

 pecially the horse. The other animals rarely ever sustain 

 bodily injury from surgical restraint because they are rela- 

 tively less powerful. The small animals, and even the ox, 

 are incapable of directing the same enormous amount of 

 force against the restraining apparatus, and are hence more 

 easily confined and less susceptible to injury. The powerful 

 muscular system, the large size of the animal and the na- 

 tural inclination to fight restraint and resent the infliction 

 of pain, all contribute to the susceptibility of the horse to 

 bodily injury when forcibly secured with mechanical ap- 

 pliances. These injuries may be trivial or grave, according 

 to their location and cause. They vary from slight excoria- 

 tions of the cuticle to fractures of the vertebral column. 

 Trivial or grave, they must be provided against. The 

 humiliation of fracturing the spine of an old horse may be 

 no greater than of bruising the orbit of a valuable animal. 

 Injui'ies are usually caused by the display of rather poor 



