SUPERFICIAL KERATITIS. CASE No. 49543. October 24, 1921. A ten months' old sable and white male collie. The animal had been depressed and breathing rapidly for two or three days. He had also had a few slight attacks of epistaxis during that time. Examination. The dog was in good condition but showed a little depression. Temperature, 101.6 °F., respirations a little accelerated. The animal was not considered as in a serious condition and a provisional diagnosis of cold was made. His condition improved until the 31st. On that day, between noon and the middle of the afternoon, he developed a superficial keratitis on both eyes. The corneas were bluish white, or ground glass appearance. There was no photophobia or lacrimation, or general disturb ance of health. Treatment.- October 31. Hot boric acid packs were used, followed by massage with 2 per cent. yellow oxide of mercury ointment. November 1-2. One-sixteenth grain of dionin powdered into each eye was substituted for the mercuric oxide ointment. The right eye was clearing nicely on the second. November 3. The right eye had entirely cleared but the left did not do well. From the third to the nineteenth, treatment consisted of applying hot boric acid packs, followed by massage with 1 per cent. yellow oxide of mercury ointment. About November 12, a conical cornea was noticed. By the nineteenth, the cornea had cleared but the tip of the cone was still opaque and had not responded to treatment for several days. November 20, the treatment was changed to 1 per cent silver nitrate solution. Improvement was then rapid. The same treatment was continued on the 21st and 22nd. The opacity had entirely disappeared and the eye appeared almost normal in outline on the 23rd, when the case was discharged. ULCERATIVE KERATITIS. Ulcerative keratitis is commonly seen in dogs, particularly in the pop-eyed breeds such as Bostons, French bulls, pekingese and griffons. It is a rather troublesome condition to treat and the prognosis must always be guarded, and yet many surprisingly bad cases make pretty good recoveries. The following cases illustrate the disease very well, but it must not be thought that all cases recover. A few cases progress to rupture of the cornea and prolapse of the interior of the eye, in spite of treatment, but the large majority of cases heal and leave but a slight opacity with enough clear cornea to meet the requirements of the average dog. CASE No. 48556. September 12, 1921. An adult pekingese bitch. The animal was presented with the history of having had sore eyes for several days. Examination. Animal in good condition. Both eyes were discharging and there was some photophobia. The corneas were whitish, opaque, under a lens magnifying 10 diameters appeared rough or stippled. Several small depressions about 1 inch in size were noted on each cornea. Upon the application of a fluorescin solution (fluorescin 1%, sodium bicarbonate 2.5%), these small depressions stained deep green, showing that the surface was denuded and that the ulcers had not reached the healing stage. Treatment. The eyes were irrigated well with a warm saturated solution of boric acid, then anesthetized by dropping a small amount of cocaine hydrochloride into them. Each outlined ulcer was then cauterized with phenol liquefactum on the end of a small probe. In cauterizing with this material, care must be taken not to have too much on the probe. practice is to shake off any drops that may be present. After treatment consisted of irrigating with warm boric acid solution, followed by massage Our with yellow oxide of mercury ointment. Another instillation of the fluorescin a few days after cauterizing with phenol did not stain the depressions. This indicated that the floor of the ulcer had healed over and that the animal was recovering. The ulcers filled with white scar tissue about the last of September, but this was considerably absorbed by October 6, when the animal was discharged. At that time close inspection would show a small amount of scar tissue where the ulcers had been. CASE No. 51577. May 17, 1922. Boston terrier, male, three years old. There had been a purulent discharge from the eyes for about one week before the dog was brought to the clinic. Treatment. There was an ulcer in the center of the cornea about 1⁄2 cm. in diameter. One per cent. fluorescin solution was instilled in the eye to outline the ulcer. The ulcer was cauterized with liquid phenol. Five per cent. yellow oxide of mercury ointment was applied to the eye daily. May 22. The eye did not do well. The ulcer was not healing. A ring of fine blood vessels was visible, progressing from the edge of the cornea toward the ulcer. The ulcer was again outlined with fluorescin solution and cauterized with liquid phenol. The application of 5 per cent. yellow oxide of mercury ointment was continued. June 1. The ulcer had perforated the cornea. After outlining again with fluorescin solution the ulcer was again cauterized with liquid phenol. A few drops of a 1 per cent. aqueous solution of atropine sulphate was instilled into the eye to control the pain. The whole cornea appeared red, due to the large number of blood vessels, that had grown out from the edge to the ulcer. The use of the 5 per cent. yellow oxide of mercury ointment was continued. June 5. The ulcer was healing. The ring of blood vessels had very nearly disappeared. Five per cent. yellow oxide of mercury ointment and onesixteenth grain of powdered dionin were applied on alternate days. Under this treatment the scar tissue from the ulcer gradually disappeared until June 17, when the dog was discharged with only a mild opacity. ECZEMA OF THE EYELIDS. CASE NO. 50414. February 9, 1922. White fox terrier, male, 6 years old, had showed considerable discharge of pus from the eyes for the last month. Examination. The edge of each lower lid was found to be covered with a dark brown crust. The skin of each lid was reddened. On removal of the scabs, the edges of the lids were rough, excoriated, reddened, and bled slightly. They had all the appearance of a moist eczema. The condition of the lids was due to the discharge of pus from the conjunctiva which was reddened and showed a chronic suppurative conjunctivitis. Treatment. From February 9-19 the eyes, conjunctiva and lids were irrigated daily with warm concentrated aqueous solution of boric acid. Two per cent. boric acid ointment was applied daily to the conjunctiva and lids. The condition of the conjunctiva had improved but the lids did not show signs of healing. From February 20 to 25, in addition to the above treatment, 3 per cent. aqueous copper sulphate solution was applied to the edges of the lids by means of absorbent cotton on a probe, care being taken to touch only the part affected. At the end of this time the conjunctiva was about normal and the lids were healing nicely. From February 26 to March 2, the above treatment was continued, except that instead of applying the copper sulphate solution, dry boric acid was sifted onto the lids. The case was discharged on March 2, 1922, entirely healed after twenty days of treatment. AUTOPSIES S. A. GOLDBERG AND L. B. SHOLL Department of Pathology and Bacteriology There were 309 autopsies this year. This makes 87 more than the previous year. It is the largest number since the inauguration of systematic post mortems in this department. Of the total number, there were 33 horses, 49 cattle, 28 sheep, 23 swine, 120 dogs, 37 cats, 12 rabbits, 3 fowls, 3 goats and 1 silver fox. The material was obtained from the college clinics, from neighboring veterinarians and from private individuals who were desirous of determining the cause of death of their animals. This material proved an invaluable aid in teaching pathological anatomy. Sections were taken from the organs of these animals for histological study with a view of determining definitely the nature of the pathological tissue changes responsible for the illness or death. The object was also to ascertain the secondary changes and various degenerations that occur in these and in other organs of the body. Routine bacteriological examinations of the organs were also made. In general, the purpose of such microscopic study is to correlate the tissue changes with the etiology. The following table shows the principal lesions found, together with the number and species of animals. Some of these lesions were directly responsible for the death of the individual. In the case of others, the animals were destroyed in order to do away with their suffering. TABLE SHOWING THE DISEASES AND THE SPECIES OF ANIMALS AUTOPSIED DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1922 REPORT OF POULTRY DISEASE INVESTIGATION July 1, 1921, to June 30, 1922 J. W. FULLER Department of Materia Medica and Small Animal Clinic There were 492 fowls autopsied in the laboratory this year. This is an increase of 190, or 62 per cent, over last year. Of this number, 282 were chicks and young fowls, 189 mature fowls, 8 ducks, 5 pheasants, 2 bob whites, 2 grouse, 1 turkey, 1 goose, 1 ring dove and 1 valley quail. Six samples of feed were tested for poison by feeding susceptible fowls. Twenty-four poultry farms were visited during outbreaks of disease. One thousand doses of a bacterin prepared from the discharges of fowls suffering with roup were sent to veterinarians and poultry owners. Good results were apparently obtained by their use. Fowls to the number of 16,320 were vaccinated against chicken-pox. (A complete report of this will be found elsewhere in the appendix.) Good results were obtained in treating coccidiosis of chicks with powdered crude catechu. One-third of a teaspoonful was added to each gallon of drinking water. This was left before the fowls for three days, clear water was given for one day, then the catechu repeated for three more days. This treatment was continued until all fowls recovered. A five grain sulpho-carbolate tablet added to the drinking water checked bacillary white diarrhea, fowl cholera, intestinal infections and peritonitis. Chicken-pox, coccidiosis, tapeworms, bacillary white diarrhea, fowl cholera and tuberculosis were the causes of the greatest loss. |