EXPERIMENTAL INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION IN DOGS WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE CAUSE OF DEATH AND THE TREATMENT BY LARGE AMOUNTS OF NORMAL SALINE SOLUTION

Abstract

In an investigation into the cause of death following a high intestinal obstruction in dogs,¹we were able to exclude, as causal factors, an invasion of the blood and organs by bacteria, and any influence due to the absorption of food residues in the stomach or intestine at the time the obstruction was produced. It was also determined that dogs would live under these circumstances for periods of ten days, provided no strangulation was present, and they were given normal salt solution, subcutaneously, while life was considerably shorter than this when a strangulation existed or the saline was withheld, and they received water only by mouth. At autopsy there was constantly found a more or less marked degeneration of the kidney and liver cells, often going on to actual necrosis, and the intestinal mucosa above the obstruction showed an exfoliation of the lining cells, a round-cell infiltration and a