The General Genital Infections of Carnivora 833 



culty in defecation and urination. It naturally renders the 

 ejaculation of semen difficult. How much clanger it carries 

 for the bitch in coitus has not been investigated. It may 

 play an important role in serious abortion storms in valu- 

 able kennels. When clinical prostatitis of a marked type be- 

 comes established, as in semino-cystitis in bulls, the dog 

 probably becomes sterile, but may be innocuous because the 

 prostatic ducts are occluded and the infection incarcerated. 



When difficulty in defecation or urination becomes clini- 

 cally evident, palpation per rectum reveals the presence of 

 the enlarged sensitive prostate. When the disease has so far 

 progressed that it causes clinical discomfort, it is probably 

 beyond repair so far as fertility is concerned. There re- 

 mains only the question of prolonging the life of the patient. 

 In this field little of value has been accomplished. Appar- 

 ently prostatitis has attracted no attention in relation with 

 fertility and no operation or other method of handling for 

 this purpose suggested. Castration tends to cause abate- 

 ment in the symptoms of non-malignant prostatitis. Much 

 of the prostatitis is malignant. Prior to reaching such an 

 advanced stage, careful physical examination or examina- 

 tion of the semen may reveal the seriousness of the infection 

 and enable the veterinarian to avert disaster to valuable 

 breeding bitches. 



Diseases of the ovary are apparently less common than in 

 mares and cows. I observed one instance of nymphomania 

 in the bitch, associated with cystic degeneration of the 

 ovary, as shown in Fig. 241. The nymphomania presented 

 the same general symptoms as in the cow and was relieved 

 by castration. There are no data recorded suggesting a 

 hopeful plan for handling nymphomania in the bitch with a 

 view to the restoration of fertility. The surgical handling 

 of the ovaries would call for laparotomy. 



The infections of the pregnant uterus of the bitch 

 and cat are numerous enough, but the details of their 

 behavior have not been recorded. In some kennels the 

 owners report that over a long period of time essen- 

 tially all bitches abort, or at least fail to produce liv- 



53 



