_Solipeds_: Causes: Blows, kicks, goring, leukæmia, compression of
splenic or gastric veins, anthrax infection. Lesions: Blood may escape
into peritoneum or remain confined under serosa. Splenic degeneration
or pulpy condition. Fractured ribs, ecchymosis, surface swellings.
Spontaneous arrest. Symptoms: Of internal hemorrhage. Vomiting.
Trembling. Vertigo. Coma. Treatment: Rest, quiet, locally ice, snow,
cold, internally iron chloride, matico, astringents, anodynes.
_Cattle_: Blows, crowding, leukæmia, youth, anthrax, Texas fever,
microbes. Symptoms: Persistent lying down, advancing bloodlessness,
surface coldness, stiffness, local tenderness, fluctuation. Treatment
as in horse.
_Horse._ This is not a frequent lesion in solipeds, yet the number of
cicatrices of the spleen which are found post mortem in old horses would
indicate a considerable number of slight and non-fatal cases. The most
common cause appears to be external violence and especially kicks or
blows with horns on the left hypochondriac region. Horses running at
large in pastures, or in yards, or standing side by side in short stalls
or tied with too long halters are the usual victims. Cadeac refers to
cases reported by Tausch, Millot, Berndt, Humbert and Pont, and one case
occurring in a three year old colt came under the notice of the author.
The subject stood in a stall to the right of an irritable mare, and
though the kick left no noticeable skin lesion the colt died in three
hours with symptoms of internal hemorrhage. At the necropsy a laceration
of the spleen of about five inches long was disclosed, and a large
quantity of blood had accumulated in the peritoneum.
Brandis mentions a case consequent on a violent fall on the left
hypochondrium.
In other cases pre-existing disease of the spleen or its blood-vessels
have proved active factors. In the friable degenerated spleen of
leucocythæmia multiple small lacerations have been found (Peuch,
Laulanie); in engorgement of the spleen consequent on thrombosis of the
splenic vein (Wiart); in chronic indigestion with habitually loaded
stomach compressing the gastric and hepatic arteries and determining a
reflux of blood through the cæliac axis into the spleen (Mongin).
Finally, though less frequently than in the ox, the engorgement of the
spleen with blood in cases of anthrax may be a cause of rupture.
_Lesions._ The rupture may be on any part of the spleen and it may be
complete or incomplete; in the latter event the capsule may have
ruptured while the more elastic peritoneal covering has remained intact
enclosing a coagulum of variable size bulging above the level of the
spleen. When the peritoneal coat has given way, its laceration is
usually smaller than that in the spleen and its proper envelope. Any
degeneration of the spleen will affect the appearance of the lesion. In
one case caused by external violence the adjacent portions of the spleen
were reduced to a soft pulp. In such a case there is a slow but
continuous flow of blood in a small stream which may, however, prove
fatal (Humbert and Pont).
Again in cases caused by external violence there may be fractures of the
ribs, ecchymosis, local swellings or even wounds of the skin, but all
these may be absent. The blood effused into the peritoneum is usually
clotted. If the effusion has taken place slowly it is more or less
coagulated around the edges of the wound or even in its depth and in
this way the hemorrhage may be arrested. When the peritoneum is still
intact the pressure of the clot beneath it has served to arrest the
flow. In such cases the clot may be in part liquefied and absorbed and
in part organized into fibrous tissue, constituting the cicatrices of
the spleen found in old horses.
_Symptoms_ appear to have been varied. Colicy pains are generally noted.
Tausch has observed vomiting, Millot vertigo, and Wiart coma and
trembling. In the author’s case the animal was found down, unable to
rise, almost unconscious, pulseless, with great pallor of the visible
mucous membranes, dilated pupils, and cold extremities. A diagnosis was
made of internal hemorrhage, but its actual seat was only revealed post
mortem.
_Treatment._ The early mortality usually forbids treatment. When
opportunity is furnished keep the animal absolutely still and quiet,
apply snow, ice or other refrigerant to the left hypochondrium, give
internally tincture of muriate of iron, matico, or other astringent, and
relieve any severe suffering by anodynes (hyoscyamus, belladonna,
opium). External wounds may be treated antiseptically.
=Cattle.= The _causes_ of laceration and hemorrhage of the spleen are
similar to those acting in the horse. Blows with the horns on the left
side, crowding through a doorway or gateway, and direct blows of other
kinds are charged with its pathogenesis. The friability which attends on
leucocythæmia has been noted as a predisposing cause. Calves by reason
of their small size and the relative bulk of the spleen are especially
liable to rupture by kicks from animals or men.
Much more commonly than in solipeds, rupture of the spleen occurs as a
complication of specific microbian diseases like anthrax and Southern
cattle fever.
_Symptoms._ The mature animal assumes the recumbent position, refusing
to rise, and dies in a few hours. In calves, life may be prolonged for a
few hours longer, and there have been noticed, anorexia, watering of the
eyes, accelerated pulse and respiration, arrest of intestinal
peristalsis, cold ears, rigid limbs, and moderately full belly (Notz).
There should also be tenderness on manipulation or percussion of the
left hypochondrium, and until coagulation occurs, fluctuation in the
lower part of the abdomen, with pallid mucous membranes and other signs
of profuse internal hæmorrhage.
_Treatment_ is useless in the majority of cases. In the slighter forms
it would be the same as in the horse.