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 sufBcient 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 usually 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 



