666 Veterinary Obstetrics 



If we wish to preserve the life of the mother, we should be 

 careful to select a place for operating which is clean and free 

 from dust. If the animal is placed upon a bed of straw or 

 other material, the bedding should be carefully moistened with 

 an antiseptic and all necessary means taken to prevent any stirring 

 up of dust by the struggles of the animal. 



The operating field should be carefully cleaned and disin- 

 fected. The hair should be removed by shaving over an ample 

 area, which should then be disinfected by cleansing with soap and 

 hot water with a stiff brush, followed by a thorough washing 

 with alcohol or ether to dissolve the fat, after which the part 

 should be thoroughly washed with i-iooo corrosive sublimate 

 solution or other reliable disinfectants. 



In addition to these precautions, Keller suggests that at the 

 point of incision the area should be saturated with tincture of 

 iodine in order to complete the disinfection of this region. Prior 

 to the application of the tincture of iodine, all liquids should be 

 wiped away with antiseptic gauze. 



After thorough disinfection, the neighboring portions of the 

 body of the animal should be covered over with cheese-cloth, 

 towels or other suitable fabric, which has been sterilized or dis- 

 infected so as to prevent dust and hair getting into the wound 

 from the animal's body. The sterile or antiseptic cover also 

 affords a safe resting place for any protruding abdominal viscera. 

 Immediately over the location where the wound is to be made, 

 there should be placed an ample piece of sterilized gauze, in 

 which an opening is made of the same dimensions as that in the 

 abdominal wall. 



The incision is then to be made into the abdominal cavity. 

 Generally one scalpel should be used for making the skin incision, 

 laid aside, and a second scalpel used to continue the incision into 

 and through the deeper parts. In the flank the incision should 

 begin at about the level of, or slightly below, the external angle 

 of the ilium, midway between it and the last rib, and extend 

 downward in an approximately perpendicular direction. 



After the skin incision has been made, we may continue it 

 directly through the muscles; or in the flank operation we may 

 separate the muscle fibers in their longitudinal direction, either 

 with the blade or the handle of the scalpel, and not cut across 

 the muscle fibers at all. The latter plan of incision would involve 



