Having unloaded the dilated portion of any undue collection, further accumulation should be guarded against by giving nutritious food in small compass, and of a laxative nature, by stimulating peristalsis by nux vomica or other nerve stimulant and by the daily application of electricity. Enemata and laxatives should be employed when necessary.
STRICTURE OF THE INTESTINE.
From healing of ulcers, inflammation or infiltration, neoplasms, ring like or sacculated, in small intestine in horse preceded by a dilatation, an effect of verminous thrombosis; in cattle; in dog. Symptoms: Progressive, if in duodenum can’t eat full meal, belches gas, has colics and tympany; in cattle tympany, unthrift; in dog vomiting, tympany, colic, accumulations. Treatment: Gradual stretching by bougies if within reach.
Strictures of the intestine are in the main the result of ulceration of the intestinal walls which contract in healing, or inflammation, and infiltration which leads to contraction in their organization into tissue. Neoplasms of the walls (cancer, myxoma, lipoma, polypus, melanosis, actinomycosis, tubercle) are additional causes of constriction. If resulting from a lesion which completely encircled the bowel there is an uniform constriction in the form of a circular ring; if on the other hand it started from a longitudinal ulcer or lesion the bowel is shortened on that side and puckered.
In solipeds strictures are most frequent in the small intestine, or rectum. The pylorus is often affected. When on the small intestine there is constantly a dilatation just in front of the obstruction. The constricted portion is usually short, but as seen from outside of the gut may be duplicated a number of times. Cadeac mentions seventeen such strictures in the same animal, each preceded by a dilatation. The individual stricture may be less than two inches in length and so narrow as just to allow the passage of the index finger. The walls of many times their natural thickness, are still further thickened by an external layer of adipose tissue. It may be the seat of a small abscess, or of a tumor. Internally the mucosa may show ulcerations.
The stricture or strictures in solipeds often depend on the disturbance of the circulation which results from verminous thrombosis, the exudate into the intestinal walls, undergoing organization, at once thickens and constricts the tube, and determines as secondary result the dilatation in front of it.
Professor Mauri of Toulouse records the case of a horse with a rectal stricture 4 inches from the anus, and a great dilatation in front. The removal of the stricture, secured normal defecation, (whereas before this the fæces had to be removed by hand) and the colics entirely disappeared.
In cattle strictures have been found mainly at or near the pylorus, less frequently in the rectum, and on one occasion (Revel) in connection with a cancerous tumor, in the colon.
In the dog the pylorus is also the favorite seat of thickening and stricture, yet it may occur in the small intestine, the rectum, or the colon.
Symptoms. These are gradually advancing, as the stricture approaches more and more nearly to a complete stenosis. If the stricture is in the pylorus or duodenum, the patient can not eat a full feed of grain without discomfort. He stops, hangs back on the halter, plants the fore feet in front, arches the neck, drawing in the nose and eructating gas. If he cannot eructate he is liable to show colics, tympany, and the general symptoms of gaseous indigestion of the stomach.