444 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



be non-existent, the intestinal tube terminating with the 

 colon; or it may terminate in a blind end adjacent to the anus. 

 The latter is the only operable one in animals. 



If the malformation is discovered at birth intervention 

 is postponed until the rectum becomes more conspicuous by 

 filling up with feces and intestinal gases two or three days 

 later. Often the defect is not noticed at all until straining to 

 defecate attracts attention, and not infrequently the subject 

 dies and is disposed of without the nature of its trouble 

 having been determined. This is particularly the case with 

 sucklings receiving little individual attention, as pigs, pups, 

 and kittens. 



In males the perineum is a smooth surface with little to 

 indicate where the anus should be, while in females the 

 vagina serves as a guide for making the artificial perforation. 



The technique consists of first excising an elliptical piece 

 of skin and then searching for the rectum through the ad- 

 jacent connective tissue by dissection with scalpel and thumb 

 forcep. If after thus excavating to the depth of one to one 

 and a half inches no trace of the blind end is found, the case 

 may be given up as hopeless. On the other hand, should the 

 end be encountered it is incised vertically, evacuated of its 

 contents and cleansed and then approximated with the edges 

 of the cutaneous .incision by means of a continuous suture 

 without the least disturbance of its surrounding attachments. 

 If the distance between the skin and rectum is too great to 

 effect the approximation by stretching it may be dissected 

 loose and then drawn upon with forceps until the edges meet. 

 It is rare, however, that this latter intervention ends favor- 

 ably. 



Operations Against Prolapse of the Rectum. 



Rectal prolapse may be partial or complete. When a part 

 of the rectum becomes tumefied from injury the swollen part 

 may protrude through the anus in the form of a rounded 

 glistening mass that is more or less pedunculated from pres- 

 sure of the sphincter ani. The proper procedure against this 

 form is to administer a laxative, feed with soft,, succulent 

 feeds, return the mass manually and then administer frequent 

 copious enemata to soften the stools. If the protrusion re- 

 curs only at the time of each act of defecation the manual re- 

 placement is repeated as required until the volume of the 

 swelling has diminished. After two or three days, however, 

 if the protrusion is extant, excision of the tumefied part by 



