REPORTS OF CASES. 
113 
called, found the dog in a state of collapse, and prognosed death 
in a few hours, administering diffusible stimulants, and warmly 
blanketing. The dog died that afternoon, and a post-mortem 
was held the following day at 2 P. m. 
Upon opening the abdominal cavity the mesentery was found 
congested. A large quantity of bloody fluid with an admixture 
of the contents of the stomach was floating among the intestines. 
No other pathological condition was met with until we ex¬ 
amined the stomach, where was found an ulcer, which had per¬ 
forated the pyloric end, its appearance indicating that it must 
have existed for some time, as the edges had been chronically 
inflamed, through the different layers, until the serous coat was 
reached, which showed evidence of very recent rupture, and ex¬ 
plained the sudden collapse. On opening the thorax everything 
appeared normal until the heart was examined. Externally the 
left heart appeared normal, while the right one was hypertro¬ 
phied, and on opening the latter a bunch of threadworms 
immitis) was found in the auriculo-ventricular opening 
(about 20), some in the ventricle and pulmonary artery, about 50 
in all. They were of all sizes, from two to thirteen inches long. 
Nothing was found in the left heart; both ventricles contained 
very little blood. 
The remarkable features of this case are, that during the 
progress of the ulcer the dog showed no symptoms of gastric 
derangement ; nor did the hematozoa produce any visible 
symptoms. As the dog was very valuable, a great pet, and 
watched very carefully, any symptom of ill-health would have 
been noticed at once. 
PREMATURE DIAGNOSIS. 
By Francis Abele, Jr., V. S., Quincy, Mass. 
The first day of last August I spayed four bitches. Three 
were own sisters, bull terriers. Two staid in this city, while 
the third went into a neighboring State. In operating I re¬ 
moved not only the ovaries but the major part of the horns of 
the uterus. 
I have never known a bitch so spayed to wander off, or bear 
pups, but the owner of the dog which went out of this State 
came to me and said that his spayed bitch was with pups, was 
very large. A medical doctor had said so, and was willing to 
bet on it. He (the M. D.) would like to buy the beast, take 
her home and treat her. Of course I objected. I asked that 
the present owner still keep the animal and await developments. 
