i8o Surgical Diseases and Surgery of the Dog 



marasmus. They may otherwise terminate life by metastasis to 

 other and vital organs. Non-malignant and circumscribed growths 

 and strictures generally give rise to symptoms of chronic obstruction. 

 For some time there is no disturbance in the general condition of 

 the animal, and it is possessed of its usual activity. The only differ- 

 ence noticed is a gradually failing appetite, but this is unaccompanied 

 by emaciation. As soon as complete occlusion takes place all food is 

 refused and there is still no appreciable falling off in flesh. In a 

 few days' time thirst and vomiting appear and it is then that 

 emaciation commences and rapidly pursues its course. Vomiting is 

 not a constant symptom, however. In the resection case referred 

 to under Compression Obstruction the animal died without having 

 shown any sign of vomiting. This was probably due to the fact that 

 the bowel above the seat of occlusion was distended for a distance 

 of only fourteen inches and from there onward to the stomach was 

 contracted. Kirstein mentioned having a similar experience in an 

 experiment where he completely severed the gut and closed the cut 

 ends separately by suture. The animal lived six weeks. At the 

 end of the third week its appetite failed, but in all this time it did 

 not vomit. After death it was found that but fifteen inches of the 

 gut above the lesion showed distension, the remainder being col- 

 lapsed. In my other clinical cases and in the experiments of Tietze 

 and Reichel, the distension was greater just above the seat of lesion 

 and gradually decreased towards the stomach, and all of these cases 

 were characterized by vomiting. 



The advent of dissolution is usually somewhat slower than in 

 obstruction by foreign bodies. Much depends upon the position of 

 the stricture. The higher its position the more quickly is it fatal. 

 Death may occur by starvation in protracted cases, but it is probable 

 that it is more often directly due to absorption of microorganisms 

 by the dilated lymphatics and vessels in the hypertrophied portion of 

 the bowel immediately above the occluded area, such microorgan- 

 isms rapidly increasing in numbers in the blood. 



Symptoms and Diagnosis. As a rule, explorative celiotomy can 

 alone enable the practitioner to arrive at a correct differential diag- 

 nosis. 



Treatment. The only possible method of treatment is abla- 

 tion by enterectomy, and anastomosis. 



