FOREIGN BODIES SWALLOWED BY THE DOG, 



137 



obtained by palpation of the abdomen are of much more value 

 in diagnosis than the symptoms , we have just described. The 

 exploration of the stomach must be performed while the animal is 

 kept standing on two feet, the hands of the examiner being applied 

 upon the lower abdominal wall immediately above the sternum. 

 The exploration of the intestine is made with the hands applied 

 upon the lateral walls of the belly when the animal is in a standing 

 or dorso-decubital position. 



Duration. The duration of the affection is extremely variable. 

 Death happens at times within a few days, at other times after 

 several weeks, sometimes after months ; we may see successive 

 periods of amelioration and aggravation, corresponding with the 

 migrations of the obstruction in the intestinal canal. 



Pathological Anatomy. The foreign body may become enclosed 

 in the pyloric opening ; then we find the right cavity of the stomach 

 dilated and the corresponding muscular fibre much hypertrophied 

 (in a medium-sized dog we have found it one centimetre thick) ; the 

 intestine is almost always empty. When the object is stopped in 

 the small intestine the part of this organ which is above the 

 obstructed point is much dilated and hypertrophied ; the posterior 

 portion, on the contrary, is contracted, atrophied, and devoid of 

 food. In the neighborhood of the obstruction the mucous mem- 

 brane is the seat of an inflammatory tumefaction or of a necrotic 

 eschar presenting a starchy appearance ; often the muscular layer 

 and the peritoneum itself have participated in the morbid process. 

 In that portion of the intestine where the foreign body has travelled 

 it has left certain marks, such as ecchymoses, ulcerations, cica- 

 trices, pigmentary infiltration ; ordinarily its arrest is not due to its 

 extraordinary size, but to the irregularity of its surface ; the mus- 

 cular fibre becomes tired and ends by being stricken with paresis. 



Treatment. Emetics, purgatives, and the forced ingestion of a 

 large quantity of water are so many recognized remedies, but they 

 have no successful results to their credit. If the animals continue 

 to eat, very copious and extensive alimentation (with bread, potatoes, 

 etc.), by dilating the digestive tube, may form a wider passage to 

 the arrested body, and thus determine its evacuation. At all events 

 we must not count too much upon such a result, and surgical 

 extraction will always remain the true and proper means of treat- 

 ment. The favorable results obtained by Felizet, Siedamgrotzky, 

 and others (laparotomy, incision of the stomach and intestine. 



