Sewing Up Wounds 163 
silk is better. For some purposes catgut is preferable 
to silk. Heavy linen thread, doubled, is excellent. In 
the absence of all these, ordinary cotton wrapping 
twine can be used, but when there is much strain on 
the stitches this is likely to part. 
Fresh wounds are not sensitive, and can be manip- 
ulated without giving pain. In sewing up a wound, 
the sticking of the needle through the skin often causes 
some pain, and proper precautions should be taken to 
confine the animal, so that it cannot injure the operator 
by kicking or striking, or, in dogs, by biting. Putting 
a twist on a horse and tying a dog’s mouth tightly are 
usually sufficient precautions. 
In sewing up a wound care must be taken to have 
the parts brought together as nearly true as possible, 
so that the edges will not pucker. There should be a 
small opening left at the bottom for drainage, through 
which the pus, or matter, can escape. The best method 
for ordinary use is to pass the needle through both 
edges of the wound, drawing the thread just tight 
enough to bring the wound nicely together, and then 
tying with a hard knot. If the stitches are too tight the 
swelling that usnally follows will cause them to tear. 
In large, deep wounds, the needle should be started well 
back from the wound and passed deeply through the 
tissues to hold them firmly together. In cases where 
there is danger of stitches tearing out from strain on 
the parts, it can be helped by tying each end of the 
thread to a round, smooth stick, the size of a pencil or 
smaller. This method takes the strain off the tissue. 
Care must be taken, in deep wounds, to prevent sewing 
