PELVIC HERNIA IN THE OX. GUT TIE.
Cause: laceration of parietal peritoneum by tearing through the spermatic artery, a loop of intestine is strangulated in the resulting pouch. Diagnosis: patient is a steer castrated by the method named, rectal exploration confirms. Treatment: turn on back, jump from a height, trot down hill, dislodge incarcerated mass by hand in rectum, pass cannula through rectum, introduce probpointed bistoury and cut through the band, or laparotomy. Second Form: adhesion of stump of spermatic cord to intestine, or abdominal wall or formation of a pediculated tumor, and resulting strangulation of intestine. Third Form: weight of testicles tears the peritoneum from the abdominal wall forming pouch. Treatment: laparotomy.
Causes. This is a peculiar affection said to be connected with a faulty mode of castration in calves. When the testicle has been exposed, the spermatic cord is torn through by sheer force, or the posterior portion having been cut across the anterior division is dragged upon violently until torn apart. The gelders usually estimate the quality of the operation by the length of the artery which can be torn out. The artery which is the most resistant portion of the cord and the last to give way takes its origin from the posterior aorta opposite the posterior mesenteric artery, extends outward by a curvilinear course just in front of the brim of the pelvis, and when stretched violently it is straightened out and carries with it the peritoneum, tearing it from the portion immediately in front and forming a sac, or tearing it completely apart from the abdominal wall in its median part and leaving it attached above and below. Into this sac, or above this band, which is just below the sacral transverse processes, a loop of intestine may pass, and becoming strangled there, produces all the symptoms of intestinal obstruction.
Diagnosis is helped by the fact that the animal is a steer, and in a locality where the above-named mode of castration is in vogue. It is completed by feeling the imprisoned intestine and the constricting cord just under the right or left transverse processes of the sacrum.
Treatment. The gut will sometimes escape from the sac if the animal is turned quickly on its back. Another method is to invoke the influence of gravitation by jumping the animal from a high step down to a lower level, or by trotting him down a steep incline. A still more effective method is to introduce the hand into the rectum and press the palm upward and forward against the soft mass of the imprisoned intestine. In this way the gaseous, liquid and solid contents are passed over into the portion of the gut in front of the constriction, and by continuing the process the intestine itself can usually be pressed out and the suffering relieved. It is further suggested to press the thumb or the whole hand forward against the constricting band and tear it in two. A certain amount of to and fro movement is usually required and in exceptional cases the cord is so strong that the measure has to be abandoned.
Another resort is to pass a cannula and trochar through the adjacent part of the rectum, and withdrawing the trochar, to pass a probpointed bistoury through the cannula, and beneath the cord and cut it in two.
These measures failing an incision must be made in the right flank, following the line of the fibres of the external oblique, and the hand being introduced and passed round the posterior border of the omentum the seat of the disease is found and the constricting cord is cut with a probpointed bistoury or a bistouri caché. The wound is then sutured, disinfected and covered with antiseptic gauze or cotton and bandage. The sounds of peristalsis are resumed and in five or six hours defecation is restored.
2nd Form. Another alleged condition vouched for by English and continental veterinarians depends on drawing down the spermatic cord as far as possible, cutting it off and allowing it to be retracted into the abdomen. Having been detached by the traction from the abdominal wall it is alleged to float free, sometimes establishing an adhesion to one of the intestines of which it later limits the movements; sometimes forming a connection with the abdominal wall and forming a sling in which the intestines may be snared, and sometimes swelling at its free end to form a pedunculated tumor, and winding around a loop of intestine so as to strangle it. For these conditions incision of the abdominal wall and section of the offending cord are recommended.
3rd Form. Lobbe tells us that the disease is common in bulls as well as oxen in mountainous regions, being determined by violent exertions, or by the struggle to rise, when the animal has accidently fallen. In this alleged form there is the suggestion of the heavy pendent testicles as factors in detaching the cord with its vessels and nerves from the abdominal wall, so as to form a loop or snare for the intestine.