What Cause a Dog to Have Intussusception

Another cause of bleeding is a telescoping of the bowel called intussusccption. A fold of intestines slides inside the adja - cent intestine and is gradually forced farther and farther along untilperhaps ten or twelve inches has become invaginated. This reallymeans that three times that much of the intestine is involved, as can heeasily understood. A ten - inch intussusception involves thirty inches ofintestine. The invaginated part dies from pressure and because itsblood supply is compromised. Food cannot move through it, nor mois - ture.

Once suspicion points to this condition, detection is not difficult,because a long, swollen section with an abrupt beginning can generallybe felt quite easily through the abdominal wall. Usually the dog soaffected vomits everything it eats. It becomes dehydrated, its tempera - ture rises, its expression and attitude show pain. A day or two after thecondition has become established, the fecal material begins to appearwatery and to have an acrid odor. Usually this watery secretion turnsreddish from the blood exuded by the entombed intestine, whose lower end is free.

Giving strong purgatives tends to produce intussusceptions, but these particular dogs had received no medi - cation. Foreign bodies that stick to the intestinal lining are often impli - cated. And growths, like large polyps, sometimes move downward,dragging the intestine after them in a fold.

Surgery is the one treatment for this condition. A piece of intestinehas to he removed together with the blood supply to the section. It is true, however, that there have been cases in which intussusceptionshave just started and been detected by feeling, and surgery has beenaverted by manipulation, which has worked the fold out and preventedits further development.