DISEASES OF THE PERITONEUM. 



323 



Diagnosis. The diagnosis of acute peritonitis is often very 

 difficult, and sometimes impossible in our large animals. More or 

 less violent abdominal pains are common to peritonitis and to most 

 of the affections which concern the digestive organs, especially to 

 colics and enteritis ; recognition of the peritoneal exudate alone 

 enables the practitioner to make the diagnosis with certainty. 

 Acceleration of the respiration and circulation might induce us to 

 diagnosticate the existence of pneumonia, pleurisy, or endocarditis, 

 but exploration of the organs contained in the thoracic cavity 

 suffices to eliminate these affections. The distinction between the 

 peritoneal exudate and other morbid productions developing in the 

 abdominal cavity will be given in the article on Ascites (differential 

 diagnosis). 



Acute peritonitis of the ox. Acute peritonitis of the ox 

 is shown by such vague symptoms that it is almost always extremely 

 difficult to recognize it. All authors agree upon this point. Recog- 

 nition of the serous exudate in the abdominal cavity can only be 

 made in the minority of cases, as palpation rarely produces mani- 

 festations of pain. The characters of the pulse are not of any true 

 diagnostic value, as in the horse, for even in a normal condition 

 the pulse of the ox is subject to numerous variations. The same 

 is true of tympanites, a phenomenon common to a great many 

 affections. In general, the principal symptoms are : increase in 

 size of the abdomen, symptoms marking dull pains, slight trembling 

 of the abdominal walls, chills, difficulty of movement, constipation 

 alternatiug with moderate diarrhea, and tympanites. It lasts from 

 a few days to several weeks, often ending in death. (According to 

 Bagge and others, the mortality is about 50 per cent.) 



Acute peritonitis of the dog. In small animals, and par- 

 ticularly in the dog, the possibility of making a complete explora- 

 tion of the abdomen permits us to easily recognize peritonitis. The 

 trouble is marked by signs of pain (groans, howls) ; there is a 

 sensitiveness of the abdomen to palpation, an exudate exists in the 

 abdominal cavity ; there is constipation, meteorism, stiffness of the 

 hind quarters, complaints during defecation, dyspnoea, fever, etc. 

 A very marked tympanites is frequently seen in the cat. 



Acute peritonitis of poultry. It may be caused by per- 

 foration of the stomach or intestine (foreign bodies, ulcerations), 

 through a rupture of the oviduct, by the parasites of the abdominal 

 cavity (echinorrhynchi, acari), or by operations upon the abdomen 



