The Abdomen 165 



(a) Obstruction by Fecal Accumulation. (Coprostasis). 



This is of a chronic type, and occurs principally in the rectum 

 and colon, but may extend to the small intestine. This condition 

 is commonly observed in old dogs of sedentary habits that have 

 become subject to enfeebled contractility of the bowels and con- 

 sequent infrequent movements, and from which evacuations have 

 been regularly obtained by purgation. Dogs whose diet has con- 

 sisted largely of bone or meat are frequently sufferers. Frag- 

 ments of bone that have failed to become dissolved by the gastric 

 acid, and have escaped into the intestinal canal, pass to the colon 

 and rectum, where the velocity of the peristaltic waves is sluggish, 

 particularly in old age, and there become favorable nuclei for 

 further accretion (coprolith). In Uke fnanner, undigested frag- 

 ments of meat may accumulate. Such matter, gradually increas- 

 ing, stretches the wall past its power of contractility and paralysis 

 of the bowel follows. Coprostasis may also result from certain 

 affections of the nervous system, notably paraplegia, and from 

 proctitis. 



Beyond a catarrhal disorder, set up by irritation of the mass, 

 there is rarely any inflammation present, the accumulation simply 

 piling itself up before the dam, though it may lead to chronic 

 troubles, such as proctitis, dilation, etc. The duration of this 

 trouble may be of weeks. Skerritt recorded a case of fecal im- 

 paction in which the dog had not evacuated the bowels for a 

 period of five months, and Zuill saw a dog in which suppression 

 of defecation had lasted three months. 



Symptoms and Diagnosis. The animal is dull and listless, 

 seeks seclusion, and assumes a reclining posture most of the time. 

 It rises with apparent effort, and moves with head and tail de- 

 pressed. It usually makes futile attempts at defecation, the while 

 giving vent to cries or groans. Perhaps some fluid matter is 

 passed, which generally misleads the owner into a belief that diarrhea 

 is present, an error which must not be shared by the practitioner. 

 In reality, this is but the catarrhal discharge initiated by the pre- 

 sence of the accumulation. Food is entirely refused, but water 

 is freqtiently swallowed. Emesis soon appears, and later becomes 

 stercoraceous. Abdominal palpation reveals the presence of a hard 

 cylindrical mass, of greater or less proportions. In one instance, 

 in which I relieved a St. Bernard by enterotomy, the fecal concre- 



