3o8 Surgical Diseases and Surgery of the Dog 



Rupture of the Tendo-Achilles. This contingency arises or- 

 dinarily through traumatism. A severe gash accidentally or malev- 

 olently sustained, a violent contusion, or crushing are the most 

 common causes. In one instance, witnessed by Simonds, the animal, 

 a Greyhound, had become impaled on an iron palisade, the point of 

 the latter penetrating between the tibia and tendon and lacerating 

 the tendon. Extreme muscular effort may also be responsible. 

 Bayer and Bruckmueller have both recorded instances of tearing 

 away of the tendon from its point of origin in the body of the muscle. 

 Thus, it will be seen that the skin may or may not be involved. 

 When complete division of the tendon has taken place the divided 

 ends immediately separate, but if the lesion be only partial, 

 separation may not occur for some days though it usually does so 

 eventually through muscular contraction. 



Symptoms and Diagnosis. The behavior of the affected leg 

 is characteristic. Functional impotency of the metatarsus is com- 

 plete, the whole of the leg from the point of the hock to the toes 

 coming in contact with the ground, after the manner of the rabbit. 

 The animal is forced to walk on three legs. Examination of the 

 postero-inferior aspect of the leg reveals either a wound or a de- 

 pression corresponding to the separation of the divided ends. 



Treatment. This lesion, if left to Nature, usually terminates 

 in spontaneous recovery, the continuity of the tendon becoming 

 reestablished in the course of a few months by fibrous cicatrization. 

 Collin recorded the history of four dogs whose master divided the 

 tendon of one leg each in order to prevent them going off to 

 hunt. In four months' time the animals were at their old habits, 

 the lesion having completely recovered. The tendons in both legs 

 were then severed, but six months later the dogs again returned to 

 the hunt. 



In the larger breeds, where the distance separating the divided 

 ends is more considerable, there is more risk of permanent im- 

 potency through failure of reunion. Therefore, treatment should 

 always be directed towards maintaining the leg immobilized in ex- 

 treme extension by means of splints and bandages applied so as 

 to extend from the patella to slightly beyond the digits, a drainage 

 window being provided where the skin is involved. It is not ne- 

 cessary to suture the divided ends, and the strain usually causes 

 the sutures to tear out. 



