Cryptorchidectomy in Horses* 



By C. E. Steel, D. V. S., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 



Comparatively few of us have the opportunity 

 to castrate cryptorchids often enough to become 

 really proficient in this operation and yet it is one 

 that, with a knowledge of the anatomy of the 

 part concerned in the operation and with modern 

 surgical antiseptic and aseptic measures at our 

 command, the average practitioner should not 

 "side-step" in favor of the so-called specialist, 

 who often is anything but clean and scientific 

 in such work. 



As Dr. L. A. Merillat has said: "It is indeed 

 remarkable how one can mutilate a ridgling with 

 impunity in the frantic search for a well hidden 

 testicle, if the parts are not infected in the effort." 

 Most of us know of one or more empirics who 

 are successful ridgling operators in spite of their 

 uncleanly methods and utter ignorance of asepsis 



♦Reprinted from Missouri Valley Veterinary Bulletin, January, 1910. 



