194 CASTRATION OF STALLIONS. 



of serious consideration in choosing a method. The difficulties 

 inherent to asepsis arise partly from external circumstances, such 

 as the difficulty of applying a protective dressing, which many animals 

 will not endure, and partly from the fact that even with the greatest 

 care bleeding cannot always be prevented. Bleeding usually sets 

 in after the animal has risen, and originates in the veins of the 

 common vaginal sheath. Blood collects in the scrotum, and endangers 

 aseptic healing. In cryptorchids, in which this sheath is absent, 

 asepsis is therefore more easily attained than in ordinary stallions, 

 as is shown by the experience of Bayer, Guttmann, Plosz, and others. 

 Until these difficulties can be overcome aseptic castration will remain 

 a strictly academic operation. 



(1) CASTRATION OF STALLIONS. 



For reasons already given the second year of life is that usually 

 selected for operation, as it appears the most generally suitable 

 period, and the animal probably suffers less pain than it would at a 

 later period. In this country, however, most animals are castrated 

 during the first year. Stallions of any age can be castrated without 

 danger, provided the genital organs are normal, and the rules of 

 antisepsis are observed. 



Before operation the scrotum is examined, to discover the 

 existence of hernia, and note is taken of the condition of the sper- 

 matic cord, and width of the inguinal ring. 



Yearlings are best kept without food on the morning of the day 

 of castration ; older, more excitable, and more powerful animals 

 should be kept on short diet for some days before, unless they have 

 been regularly worked. Some authorities condemn restricting the diet 

 of animals before operation, because it favours prolapse of omentum, 

 or bowel, and castrate yearlings and older horses without any such 

 preparation. Such points are probably of little importance, though 

 it cannot be denied that the small bowel is less likely to pass into 

 the inguinal canal when full than when empty. Racehorses should 

 not be castrated when in training, as their muscular strength is so 

 great that bones may be broken during operation. 



In England, America, France, and other countries, horses are often 

 castrated in the standing position, though this is certainly not 

 favourable to the proper performance of the operation, as is conceded 

 even by supporters of the method. It succeeds well enough in quiet 

 phlegmatic animals, which, however, can also be cast without much 

 danger. Joyeux is believed to have been the first to castrate horses 



