60 CANINE MEDICINE AND SURGERY 



bowel, they are practically valueless, except in the 

 treatment of ulcerative conditions of the rectum, 

 when a five- to twenty-per-cent solution of nitrate 

 of silver, or better of protargol, may be used. 



Constipation 



Constipation is the opposite condition to diarrhea, 

 being a partial or complete absence of defecation. 



Cause. — Old age and debility, paralysis of the 

 bowels, improper diet, mechanical obstruction either 

 by foreign bodies or by masses of indigested food, 

 hair, and bones are the commonest causes of con- 

 stipation. Hemorrhoids and engorgement of the 

 anal pouches or glands are further causes of this 

 condition. Constipation may also be a symptom in 

 various febrile disorders, such as distemper, icterus 

 (caused by absence of; bile), peritonitis, or enteritis. 



Symptoms. — The chief symptom is the more or 

 less complete suppression of defecation. The patient 

 makes continual efforts, but is either unsuccessful 

 or passes only small, dry, single balls of excrement, 

 which are often composed of undigested portions of 

 food and mixed with hair or pieces of bone. Some- 

 times it is blood-stained. At first the appetite is 

 only slightly impaired, but later it becomes almost 

 or entirely suppressed. Peristalsis is absent; the 

 abdomen may be distended with gas, but more 

 often it is tucked up and hard. On palpation a 

 hard, sausage-shaped- mass may be felt in the abdo- 

 men, sometimes extending as far forward as the 

 ensiform cartilage. Manipulation is usually pain- 

 ful. The temperature is raised slightly, and upon 

 introducing the oiled finger into the rectum the 

 accumulated fecal mass may be felt. The animal 

 is depressed, and may have colicky pains. There is 

 a peculiar carriage of the tail characteristic of this 

 ailment. 



