The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-01-03
ACCIDENTS TO ANIMALS.
What Can BE Done Before the Veter-
mary Surgeon Arrives.

What Can BE Done Before the Veter-
mary Surgeon Arrives.
New York Tribune.
1t has been estimated that over so per
cent. of the deaths which occur among do
nestle animals-among horses, dogs and
cats-are due to the treatment that these
animals receive in the interval between
their falling ill and the veterinary surgeons
arrival.
When pet animal is taken sick or when
it meets with an accident the first thing
most people do is to send for a veterinary
surgeon. But his arrival is never imme-
date. there is always a wait, and on the
treatment accorded to the animal during
this wait its recovery or death often de-
ponds.
In general people do not know how to
treat sick or injured animals. Over half
of those they try to treat are killed. There
are some simple rules that, If followed,
will do much to terminate the wholesale
and involuntary slaughter by the public of
its animal friends. These rules were OBJ
tanned at the Maher Animal Hospital, of
Philadelphia, an institution for the care of
horses, dogs and cats, and come from one
of the most expert veterinary surgeons of
America, and they may, therefore, be taken
as correct.
Dogs frequently choke. A bone, a nail or
a piece of tin gets in the throat, and there
is great danger of death before the arrival
of the surgeon. Many of them do die, but
there is no reason for this, for it is easy,
without the slightest danger of being b't-
ten, to put the hand in the mouth of a dog
and to draw out or push down the Obstruc-
ton that is choking il. A bandage-a hand
w IA q
the teeth and over the upper jaw, and in
a similar way another bandage is passed
between the teeth and over the under jaw.
One person, holding the ends of these two
bandages, keeps the dogs mouth wide
open; second person can then, with per-
feet ease and safety, put his fingers down
the animals throat and relieve it,
Cats and small dogs often break their
legs. 1t is wise, in such accidents, to hold
them in ones arms, perfectly STILL for
otherwise they are likely to hop about and
to cause the edges of the broken bone to
tear adjacent muscles. 1t is possible TO
hold cat or dog with broken limb in
such a manner that the limb will not be
moved until the surgeons arrival, while the
animal itself Will not be able either to
scratch or bite. To do this it is necessary
with the right arm to support the animal
and with the right hand to hold the hind
limbs, while the fingers of the left hand
must hold the front limbs and the back of
the left hand must press back the animals
head. But the broken leg must hang free.
bite nor scratch.
Cats and dogs are frequently poisoned.
Emetics should Immediately be admins
tered in such cases. Salt and water or
mustard and water are excellent emetics.
Horses have a hundred ills and troubles
for which much can be done in the inter-
val between the attack and the veterinary
surgeon coming. Horses frequently stag
ger and drop. overcome by apoplexy 1t is
well to bleed them then. The layman can
bleed horse safely by making an incision
in the side of the tail. About two quarts
of blood should be taken out, when the
hemorrhage should be stopped by the appli-
cation of clean bandage.
Azoturia, paralysis, shows itself first
in heavy horse in a heavy sweat around
the face and neck and a staggering gait. A
horse with these symptoms should be
be suffered to move a step; blanket
should be laid over his loins and an ambu-
paralyzed horse has a good chance of re-
covery, but if he is urged onward after the
appearance of the first symptoms-if an at
tempt is made to get him home to the
stable-the chance is that he will die.
Broken knee can be cured If the horse is
not walked Broken knee is laceration
accompanied by breaking of the sac of
joint fluid; it can be told by the oozing
forth of this yellowish fluid If the knee is
washed free of dirt and gravel with clean
absorbent cotton-never a dirty sponge or a
dirty rag-and If the horse is kept quite
still till the surgeons arrival, it will re-
cover fully.
Burns and scalds upon animals should
not be washed. They should be protected
from the air, from water and from irri-
tants. Excellent to use upon them are linz
seed oil and lime water or a saturated solu-
ton of picric acid, or fullers earth.
When a horse is choking to death the lay
man can, by the performance of tracheot-
omy, save it's life. The choking is due to
the fact that the obstruction Is across the
windpipe. The remedy is to make. with a
clean, sharp knife, an incision two inches
long in the middle of the throat, at the end
of the neck's first third This incison,
which will cut no blood vessels, will open
up the windpipe, and If the fingers are put
in the cut to hold its lips apart the horse
will breathe freely and comfortably till the
surgeons arrival
For collie nothing should be given. The
public has the habit of administering laud-
anum for collie, and thus 1t kills many
horses Laudanum aggravates certain
forms of collie. The veterinary surgeon
should be summoned quickly; meanwhile
nothing can be done.
The thumps, or hiccoughs, may be re-
lieved by dose of whisky and peppermint.
The dose should be two ounces of whisky
and teaspoonful Of peppermint, admins
tered in water
Epistaxia, or hemorrhage from the nos
trils, is common. 1t is always from one
nostril. That nostril should be plugged
with cotton and the head of the horse
should be kept elevated. But both nostrils
| should never be plugged. for many horses
| cannot breathe at all through their mouths.
| A foundered horse should have hot fomen-
| tations applied to his feet.
hemorrhage that is due to accident
should be stopped with tourniquet
| towel handkerchief or a rope serves
| very well for this. The bandage should be
| knotted around the injured part (above the
! cut IL the bleeding Is from an artery: be-
| low, If it is from a vein), and stick should
| be inserted between the bandage and the
| limb and twisted until the bleeding stops.
For blind staggers two quarts of blood
| should be drawn from the side of the tall
| Foreign bodies-splinters. etc.-should al
| ways be removed Immediately. They should
| never be permitted to slough out Many
| horsemen say. "Oh, leave that splinter
| alone ii will slough out in time" For they
| are not aware that nearly every case of
tetanus, or lockjaw, is due to the following
| of Just that advice.