Animal Castration 71 



Orchitis — Both acute and chronic orchitis are not infrequently 

 encountered in castration operation. 



Definition — Inflammation of the testicle. 



Symptoms — (a) Ante Orchitis — Swelling of testicle accompa- 

 nied by heat, also pain on pressure. Arching the loins, stiffness 

 and straddling gait are usually observed, (b) Chronic Orchitis — 

 Enlargement and hardening of the testicle accompanied by adhe- 

 sion of that organ to the tunica vaginalis. 



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Advisability of Castration — (a) Acute Orchitis — When an acute 

 case of orchitis is encountered and its presence recognized before 

 the scrotum is opened it is always advisable to postpone operation 

 until a later date in order to give the inflammation time to subside. 



(b) Chronic Orchitis — There is no special reason why an animal 

 cannot be safely castrated while affected with chronic orchitis, 

 even though the case be an aggravated one. In such event the 

 testicle itself would be quite voluminous in size and completely 

 surrounded by adhesions firmly connecting it to the tunica vag- 

 inalis. The method of procedure when such a complication as this 

 is encountered is to proceed as you would in castrating a stallion 

 in normal condition, with the exception that it will be found neces- 

 sary to detach the testicle from the tunica vaginalis by tearing 

 and blunt and sharp dissection of the adhesions. Sometimes the 

 hemorrhage from blood vessels in the tunic is quite profuse and 

 must be controlled by hemostatic forceps and ligatures. 



Adhesions — See Chronic Orchitis above. 



HERMAPHRODITE. 



Definition — An animal affected with hermaphrodism, a condi- 

 tion in which both sexes are manifested. 



Objects and Indications — In those cases of hermaphrodism in 

 which the male genitals are most developed the animal will have 

 the same habits and exhibit most of the objectionable qualities 

 observed in the "ridgling." In such cases it is oftentimes ad- 

 visable to undertake the removal of the testicles. In fact, the vet- 

 erinarian is called upon to perform this operation much oftener 

 than is usually imagined. 



