Ceesarian Section 665 



Harms states that the operation ow the cow may be performed 

 upon the animal in the standing position, but it would seem to 

 us that such a plan would offer very great difficulties. With 

 most, if not all animals, it is essential that they be cast, or se- 

 cured and placed upon the operating table in lateral recumbency, 

 for the flank incision, or in the dorsal position in case the linea 

 alba is selected. 



From a humane as well as an operative standpoint, anaesthesia 

 or narcosis should be induced. Keller (Zeitschrift fur Tierme- 

 dizin, B. 11, S. 122) recommends for the bitch the subcutaneous 

 injection of muriate of morphine in doses not exceeding o.o5 g., 

 and later, if marked pain and struggling ensue, the inhalation of 

 a small amount of ether. De Bruin (B. T. W., January 3, 1907) 

 considers chloroform or other anaesthesia highly dangerous in the 

 sow, and has had unfortunate results therefrom, so that he 

 recommends local anaesthesia, consisting of cocaine muriate 

 0.3—0. 5 g. in 10 cc. of distilled water, with the addition of 5 

 drops of I- 1000 solution of adrenalin chloride. Other plans for 

 inducing local anaesthesia of the abdominal walls may be used, 

 and when the abdominal cavity is open the anaesthesia may be 

 extended to the uterus itself. 



Chloroform anaesthesia in the cow and sheep is somewhat 

 dangerous, because of their great tendency to regurgitate food 

 .from the rumen and then inhale it into the bronchi. If chloro- 

 form anaesthesia is produced in the cow, it might be well to ad- 

 minister it through a trachea tube in order to guard against food 

 inhalation. We may also resort to local anaesthesia in the cow, 

 remembering constantly that the principal pain in the operation 

 consists of the incision through the skin, after which as a general 

 rule there is little evidence of intense pain. Complete anaesthesia 

 is essential in the mare, if we 'propose to attempt to save her 

 life by the operation. 



In securing an animal for the operation, she should always be 

 extended at full length, thfe hind legs drawn backward and the 

 anterior limbs forward, so that they will be completely out of 

 the way. In small animals this extension of the limbs may be 

 maintained with the aid of assistants, but in the larger animals it 

 is essential that the patient be stretched by means of ropes at- 

 tached to the hind and fore limbs respectively, the other ends of 

 which are securely fixed to posts or other secure objects. 



