Bleeding
This operation is exceedingly useful in many accidents and diseases. It is, in fact, as in the horse, the sheet-anchor of the practitioner in the majority of cases of an inflammatory character. There is some difference, however, in the instrument to be used. The lancet is the preferable instrument in the performance of this operation. The fleam should be banished from among the instruments of the veterinary surgeon.
A ligature being passed round the lower part of the neck, and the head being held up a little on one side, the vein will protrude on either side of the windpipe. It will usually be advisable to cut away a little of the hair over the spot designed to be punctured. When a sufficient quantity of blood is abstracted, it will generally be necessary, and especially if the dog is large, to pass a pin through both edges of the orifice, and secure it with a little tow.
When no lancet is at hand, the inside of the flap of the ear may be punctured with a pen-knife, the course of a vein being selected for this purpose. In somewhat desperate cases a small portion of the tail may be amputated.
superficial brachial vein
, the
cephalic
vein of the human subject, and the
plat
vein of the farrier, may be resorted to in all lamenesses of the fore limb, and especially in all shoulder-wrenches, strains of the loins, and of the thigh and the leg, and muscular and ligamentous extensions of any part of the hind limbs; the
vena saphena major
, and the
anterior tibial
vein may be punctured in such cases.
The quantity of blood to be abstracted must be regulated according to the size and strength of the dog and the degree of inflammation.
One or two ounces may be sufficient for a very small dog, and seven or eight for a large one.
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