456 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



Procedure Against Serous Sacs and Hot 

 Abscesses of the Shoulder. 



In contra-distinction from the characteristic cold abscess 

 previously described, draft horses are also frequently incapac- 

 itated for work by superficial lesions of no small importance. 

 These are affections of young horses taxed with arduous 

 labor for the first time, or of farm horses whose shoulders 

 in the spring are tender after a winter's, rest. 



Serous sacs, sometimes erroneously designated as serous 

 abscesses, are accumulations of blood serum in the sub- 

 cutaneous space, due to bruising. They are located just 

 above the level of the articulation at the lower part of the 

 collar seat. They may be unilateral or bilateral and of a 

 variable volume, first small and more or less diffused over 

 a space as large as the hand, and then becoming conspicuous, 

 fluctuant and tense from the outpouring of more serum. If 

 the affected part becomes invaded with pyogenic microbes, 

 a hot (acute) abscess results. 



The importance of these apparently trivial injuries lies 

 largely in the fact that they incapacitate horses for work at 

 a time when their services are in great demand. 



No matter what line of treatment is followed, it requires 

 some time to restore the affected part to its normal condi- 

 tion, or even to a condition that will not immediately react 

 against collar pressure. The skin having been detached and 

 separated from its underlying relations by the fluid, will 

 undergo a slow process of re-attachment from periphery to 

 center, despite every effort to hurry matters. The following 

 is given as the most effectual method of hastening a recovery: 



TECHNIQUE. — After shaving and disinfecting a spot 

 at the most dependent part the serum is aspirated with a 

 sterilized needle without rubbing or kneading the parts in 

 doing so. Friction, rubbing and kneading (manipulations 

 that are naturally resorted to in hastening the aspirating 

 process) are harmful, in that the out-pouring of a new quota 

 of serum is thus provoked. 



The affected zone is then covered thickly with anti- 

 phlogistine or similar product, .which is allowed to sojourn 

 for forty-eight hours to seventy-two hours, at the end of 

 whicn time aspiration under the same aseptic precautions 

 and gentle handling is repeated. If the fluid after the second 

 operation has not diminished in quantity, a number of sue- 



