UNTOWARD SEQUELAE. 4 1 



&ther stimulants subcutaneously or per rectum if the patient is 

 unable to swallow. 



In regard to hernia, as a rule, if the bowel does not come 

 down at the time or within an hour afterwards, there will be 

 sufficient swelling of the lacerated tissues to prevent this 

 mishap, although-. Ostermann has recorded a case^ in which 

 it came down on the tenth day afterwards. In this instance 

 it was returned, and, with the exception of an inguinal 

 swelling, the patient made a good recovery. It is always 

 a serious sequel, and the only remedy consists in throwing 

 the horse again, carefully washing the protruding portion 

 with antiseptic, and then returning it. Sutures should be 

 inserted as deeply as possible, and not more than a quarter 

 of an inch apart. A plug of sterilised wadding or tow 

 materially assists in some cases in keeping the bowel in, 

 being pushed well up the inguinal canal before theskin wound 

 is stitched. Some of the sutures are cautiously withdrawn 

 either on the second or third day afterwards, the plug removed, 

 and, after careful cleansing of the wound, replaced with a fresh 

 one. The dressings are now changed two or three times 

 a day. 



Frohner has recorded^ an instance in which a patient, 

 operated upon six days previously through the left inguinal 

 canal, showed symptoms of strangulated hernia. The swelling 

 was as large as a child's head and the patient much distressed. 

 Successful reduction was effected, and the horse did well. 



Descent of the omentum alone is not so serious. The pro- 

 truding portion may be excised, and the remainder replaced 

 into the abdomen, sutures being inserted as in' cases of descent 



of the bowel. 



Colic, during the first twenty-four or forty-eight hours, is not 

 uncommon. Probably it is due to a small piece of bowel having 

 temporarily descended into the inguinal wound, or it may be 



1 "Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics," Vol. II., page 117. 



2 " Bulletin Vei&inaire," January 1900. (Monatshefte fur Thierheilk.) 



