408 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



At times the impaction is the cause of .the indisposition, 

 while at other times it may only be an effect. In either case, 

 however, it constitutes a serious condition that must be 

 promptly corrected in order to save the patient's life. Here 

 again, timely intervention by rumenotomy is essential to the 

 best results, as delayed operations are usually futile. 



3. Foreign Bodies.— Besides harboring single harmful 

 objects, such as pointed pieces of iron, wire, or wood, the 

 rumen often becomes the receptacle for foreign objects that 

 accumulate gradually, such as strings, binder-twine, leather 

 findings, sponges, bones, hairs, et. al. 



The sojourn of such bodies in the rumen often escapes 

 ante-mortem discovery, although they frequently produce a„ 

 lasting indisposition that should at'least create a suspicion of 

 their existence. Sharp objects may penetrate the diaphragm 

 and cause intra-pleural or even intra-pericardial abcess, while 

 accumulated particles, by constant pressure upon the floor of 



Fig. 205 — Spring Retractor for Rumenotomy. 



the rumen, cause circumscribed necrosis of its wall. In either 

 instance a fatal ending is inevitable, unless removed before a 

 serious morbidity has evolved therefrom. 



In these cases, as in the preceding, early intervention is 

 essential. 



RESTRAINT. — The patient is restrained in the stand- 

 ing posture, by means of the stanchion to hold the head, by 

 ropes to prevent decumbency, and by hopples to protect the 

 operator against injury from kicks. In certain emergencies 

 when the patient is down, dying, the crude rumenotomy, 

 consisting of simply thrusting a large knife into the rumen 

 to effect an immediate evacuation, may be performed in the 

 recumbent position, but as soon as the patient is safely out 

 of danger of immediate death the more methodical operation 

 is continued in the standing position. 

 \) ANTISEPSIS.— The prevailing impression that cattle 

 are not susceptible to septic complication following abdominal 

 invasion is erroneous, and is the cause of numerous failures in 



