NINTH) ANNUAL REPORT: 141 
some, generally using its long arms as a cripple would use 
crutches. 
With constant decubitus the patient fails, rapidly becoming 
emaciated and weak. <Abscesses and sloughs are common over 
the bony prominences of the pelvis and at the base of the tail. 
These ulcerations have a tendency to spread, forming irregular 
and sometimes deep sloughing excavations, with no tendency to 
heal. No pain is evident by manipulation of the partially para- 
lyzed extremities. The msculo-tendinous reflexes are decreased 
or obliterated. 
The paralysis of the posterior limbs increases, and the animal, 
becoming completely paraplegic, loses sphincteric control, with 
incontinence of urine and feces. Tactical and pain anesthesia de- 
velop in the involved areas so that a pin may be trust into the 
feet or legs without the animal apparently noticing it. 
Various distortions of the bony frame-work develop, even in 
the early stages, and these changes are most frequently noted 
in spinal column and thorax, as well as in the long bones of 
the extremities, depending largely upon the superincumbent 
weight and muscular contraction. A deformity simulating the 
classical “pigeon breast” is shown in an accompanying photo- 
graph. (Plate 3.) Respiratory embarrassment frequently results 
from these deformities. (General anaemia and bronchitis are 
nearly always associated with advanced cases. 
While we have tried to picture typical cases of “cage paralysis,” 
it is important to note that there is a wide margin of difference 
in respect to the degrees of severity which may characterize 
different cases, and the diagnosis is by no means easy, even to 
careful observers, in the early stages of the disease. 
We believe several of the cases which have occurred in our 
service were already well inaugurated when the animals were 
received from the dealers, and, notwithstanding the fact that all 
new animals are submitted to a searching examination before 
admission, cases have not unfrequently remained unrecognized 
until the middle or later stages of the malady. 
PATHOLOGICAL ANATOMY. 
General Nutrition.—As a rule, the general nourishment of the 
body does not appear to suffer in the early or middle stages of 
the disease. The adipose is abundant, of normal color and con- 
sistence, as the animal eats well. As the disease progresses, a 
gradual shrinkage of the paralyzed extremities takes place (to 
