FOREIGN BODIES IN THE SPLEEN.
In horse: body from intestine. In ruminants bodies from reticulum. Laparotomy.
One such case in the Horse is reported by Hahn. A mare had loss of appetite, slight colics, frequent efforts to urinate, dullness, prostration, profuse perspirations, and tremors of the muscular walls of the abdomen. Rectal examination detected a staff-shaped body extended from behind forward in the direction of the stomach. The mare survived twenty days, when it was carried off by a more violent access of colic. At the necropsy, the spleen was found to measure 28 inches by 8; its base was adherent to a loop of intestine, and presented a large cavity filled with a grayish brown fœtid liquid, and a piece of oak measuring 17 inches by ½ inch.
Ruminants. In cattle and especially in those that are stabled, needles, pins, nails, wires and other sharp pointed bodies, that have been swallowed with the food, and have become entangled in the reticulated walls of the second stomach, have been found to penetrate the spleen and determine local abscess and fistulæ. The offending body in such cases is found in the interior of the abscess or in its walls. If such cases can be diagnosed the superficial position of the spleen would seem to warrant surgical interference for the removal of the foreign body.