SYMPTOMS 



The initial stage of typical fistula of the 

 withers develops unnoticed. As long as the 

 cyst located in its mesial position is not large 

 enough to hulge to the exterior of the body on 

 one side or the other and before it has become 

 infected with pyogenic microorganisms, there 

 are no symptoms that would attract attention 

 to the developing disorder of the region. 

 Everything is normal in appearance and the 

 patient suffers no apparent discomfort. Yet 

 there is this initial stage of fistula of the withers 

 to reckon with. How long the trouble is de- 

 veloping at the center before there is any 

 change in the profile of the region is not known. 

 The fact, however, that we find on post-mortem 

 examinations accumulations of a serous fluid 

 at the level of the second dorsal spine varying 

 from small sacs the size of an egg to that of a 

 base ball enclosed in a feebly developed sac, in 

 animals tliat were never suspected of having 

 any such a condition and wliicli died from other 

 causes, is ample evidence tliat tlie disease exists 

 a long time before the symptoms begin to ap- 

 pear. Finally, however, the region begins to 

 enlarge, first on one side and then on the other. 



