68 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



enough to allow the incision to partially unite. A limited 

 liquid diet for several days is advisable. 



SEQUELiE. — (i) Peritonitis in various degrees of se- 

 verity often supervenes such operations. The inflammation 

 is more or less diffused, confined to the region surrounding 

 the operation, but affects both the parietal and the visceral 

 portions, often terminating in extensive adhesions of the ru- 

 men to the abdominal walls. It is caused by pyogenic infec- 

 tion, by the flow of ingesta into the peritoneal cavity through 

 the perforation, by haemorrhage, or by a combination of such 

 causes. Although not serious in the vigorous subject, it may 

 prove fatal to the patient enfeebled by the disease or by pre- 

 vious causes. 



(2) Shock, pure and simple, sometimes complicates rapid 

 evacuations of the distended rumen. It is prone to supervene 

 the sudden evacuation of a rumen that has been bloated for 

 some hours, especially in aged or emaciated subjects. 



(3) Chronic perforation of the rumen. (See rumen- 

 otomy.) 



Cystocentesis. 



DEFINITION. — Cystocentesis signifies tapping the uri- 

 nary bladder with the trocar and canula, for the purpose of 

 evacuating its contents. 



INDICATIONS.— This operation, while rather rarely 

 ever required, is nevertheless important under certain cir- 

 cumstances. It is used chiefly as a preliminary step in the 

 surgical treatment of urethral strictures of horses and oxen, 

 which by producing total obstruction of the urine, cause the 

 bladder to become so enormously distended as to expose it 

 to rupture while the patient is submitted to the restraint nec- 

 essary to perform the operation upon the urethra. For ex- 

 ample, a horse or ox suffering from a stricture of the urethra 

 following an improper amputation of the penis, or from a cal- 

 culus, is found with an enormously distended bladder. The 

 patient must be moved some distance to the hospital, or pos- 

 sibly for some reason can not be operated upon until the fol- 

 lowing day, and when operated upon he must be secured and 

 anaesthetized. By aspirating the bladder the suffering is tem- 

 porarily relieved until the obstruction can be permanently 

 removed at a later and more convenient moment. The urg- 

 ency of the situation being met, the surgeon may then oper- 

 ate at his convenience. Again, when such a subject is cast 

 and anaesthetized for the operation it is essential that the 



