274 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



able. An incision is made in the flank of the affected side 

 large enough to admit the hand, which is then passed 

 through to the region of the internal abdominal ring from 

 whence the testicle is easily brought forward. But as in 

 operating upon the smaller species, especial precaution is 

 taken to exclude extra-abdominal cryptorchidism, by first 

 casting the patient and making a painstaking palpation of 

 the inguinal tract. 



Caponizing. 



DEFINITION. — Caponizing is the name applied to the' 

 castration of aves. The bird so treated is called a capon. 



INDICATIONS. — The operation is performed chiefly 

 upon roosters, although recently it has been practiced in 

 South Africa upon ostriches. In the former its object is 

 that of improving the commercial value of the animal opera- 

 ted upon. The caponized rooster fattens easier, grows larg- 

 er and, owing to a well recognized improvement in the taste 

 and tenderness of the meat, brings a much larger price per 

 pound on the market. In fact the demand for capons has 

 always exceeded the supply, even at the fancy price of two 

 to three dollars per head. 



As the demands of the epicure are gradually increasing it 

 is likely that the popularity of the operation will likewise 

 increase, although until the present time the economic im- 

 portance of each operation has been regarded as too trivial 

 to attract any attention from practitioners. In fact the oper- 

 ation is willingly consigned to the fancier and poultryman 

 in this country; the practitioner is not as yet interested 

 enough to have mastered the technique, which to him is a 

 mysterious chapter in his surgical education. The operation 

 is, however, not a difficult one. In France and in Italy it is 

 often performed- by cooks, and in this country there are 

 poultrymen who find it no trouble to castrate more than a 

 hundred in a single day with good success. 



In ostriches the operation is performed to increase the 

 plume production; an effect that is said to be attracting con- 

 siderable attention amongst breeders of these animals. 



SURGICAL ANATOMY.— The testicles of birds are in- 

 tra-peritoneal. They are very soft, friable, bean-shaped. bod- 

 ies of about the consistency and not unlike the color- of a 

 "chicken-fat" blood clot. They are located in front of the 

 kidneys at the level of the last rib. They are held in posi- 

 tion very loosely by their vessels and a loose areolar tissue. 



