ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 

 BULLETIN 



Published by the New York Zoological Society 



Vol. XVI 



SEPTEMBER, 1913 



Number 59 



ANIMAL INVALIDS 



By Elwin R. Sanborn 



AN old homeopathic practitioner who was 

 called the second time to deal with a 

 simple case, replied to the mother's 

 words, "Doctor this prescription has failed 

 to relieve," with, "Well, well, we'll have to 

 guess again!" 



To what measures then must a doctor be 

 obliged to resort, when he deals with animal 

 patients that inflexible circumstance has de- 

 prived of any power of expression to give him 

 the slightest clue. 



Under such conditions medical science is 

 reduced to judgment upon rather restricted 

 lines. 



Naturally, certain types of animals do not 

 yield graciously either to examination or to 

 treatment, while some are far more satis- 

 factory patients than the human. 



If force must be used, the reflex action, the 

 inevitable aftermath of undue nervous ex- 

 citement, together with any malady from 

 which the patient may be suffering, render 

 the task most complicated. 



Occasionally, powerful and active animals 

 are taken in hand with very slight trouble and 

 accept such future treatment as the case re- 

 quires, in a way that implies that the pa*ient 

 realizes the benefit of the aid it is receiving. 



A good example of intelligent submission 

 to treatment was the case of a llama afflicted 

 with an abscess on the jaw — a common 

 malady among hoofed animals. 



It was necessary to throw the animal, empty 

 the pus cavity and pack the wound with 



gauze; none of which operations is at all pleas- 

 ant. After the first, incipient excitement, 

 the patient abandoned itself to the various 

 stages of the operation without a struggle, 

 and each successive time, thereafter, that the 

 wound required repacking, the llama stood 

 quietly and permitted the doctor to approach 

 and perform the work, offering no resistance 

 whatever and not attempting to walk away 

 until the wound was dressed. 



A human patient anticipates a surgeon's 

 visit for similar treatment with all of the emo- 

 tions, except joy. 



A piece of bone, jammed between the molars 

 of a Bengal tiger, transformed a fairly tract- 

 able cat from a condition of docility into mad- 

 dened frenzy. She raged around the com- 

 partment and clawed and tore at the offending 

 bone in her endeavors to remove it. With the 

 greatest difficulty, she was enticed into the 

 mechanical shifting car and carried to the 

 lighted area-way at the south end of the Lion 

 House. In the interval of time that this 

 procedure required, her fury was intensified 

 beyond description. The long leg muscles 

 were twitching spasmodically and her eyes 

 glowed like opals as she charged and struck 

 the sides of the cage. 



Drawing her head to the bars was a hazard- 

 ous move, but it was skilfully accomplished 

 with a noose about her shoulders. A pair of 

 long forceps were then thrust into the cage and 

 the end of the bone firmly gripped. Up to this 

 moment she had regarded every move as 



