Polypi is a word employed to signify any sort of tumor having a neck or stem and growing out from a surface.

The most frequent seat of polypi is the mucous membrane; attached to the vaginal walls they are occasionally met with. Polypi in this situation usually form deep within the passage and are attached by a narrow pedicle. Their presence is rarely suspected until they appear in the orifice of the vagina. They are then the cause of considerable discomfort, and give rise to an irritating discharge. Even when of moderate size their presence is disturbing; as they enlarge they expand the vagina and compress the neighboring organs, causing urinary derangements, and may interfere with the movements of the bowels.

Vaginal polypi are pear shaped, smooth, shining, of considerable consistency, and devoid of sensation. Their attachment by a neck will exclude all doubts as to diagnosis.

Treatment

Their treatment requires an operation. Although their removal is generally easy it would be advisable to intrust it to a surgeon who will doubtless resort to ligation.

Inversion of the uterus is very rarely met with in canine practice, still that it can occur should not be forgotten, as it might by the unskilled, be mistaken for vaginal polypus. In inversion there appears within the vagina, and possibly protruding from the opening, a round, smooth, shining body, which, if long displaced, becomes permanently enlarged.