134 Veterinary Obstetrics 



Contusions of the testicles should be avoided by the removal 

 of tlje causes. Rams with very large and pendulous scroti should 

 be confined in enclosures free from rough elevations and from 

 obstacles against which the testes may strike when the animal is 

 moving about and should be guarded against being chased by 

 dogs or otherwise compelled to run. Injuries frpni contusions of 

 the testicles of trotting or pacing stallions are effectively obviated 

 by the use of a stallion suspensorium. The protection of the 

 testicles of the stallion against kicks or other contusions during 

 service has already been considered on page 51. 



Purgatives should usually be administered in cases of acute 

 orchitis unless contra-indicated by some general systemic disease 

 like pink eye. Even then, it would probably be desirable to 

 prescribe such hypodermic cathartics as arecoline or eserine, 

 combined with pilocarpine, which will act quickly without caus 

 ing any great depression or inducing super-purgation. They 

 should be given in small do,ses and may be repeated, if necessary, 

 in one hour. In such animals as have pendant testicles, it is 

 advisable to apply a suspensory bandage, which favors the circu- 

 lation within the organs and tends to overcome the congestion. 



lyocally, cold water may be applied to the testicles, or, when 

 this cannot be continued, it may be advantageous to use an oint- 

 ment or liniment consisting of camphor, belladonna and olive oil, 

 applied with abundant and repeated massage. 



Febrifuges may be used to lower the temperature in event of 

 fever, but, since any elevation *of temperature will usually sug- 

 gest, if not indicate, the presence of infection in the gland, in- 

 ternal medication should be chiefly directed toward the elimina- 

 tion of the infecting element itself or of the products of infection. 

 For this purpose, eserine and pilocarpine and, to a much less 

 degree, the .slower acting cathartics, exert a beneficent influence. 

 Potassium iodide in full doses not only serves to favor the elimi- 

 nation of bacterial products, but tends to exert a distinct bacter- 

 icidal action. Some writers advise against its use lest it cause 

 atrophy or degeneration of the testicles but, so far as we are 

 aware, there is no evidence of such action of the drug in domestic 

 animals. 



Hoffman recommends compression of the testes of dogs by 

 means of strips of adhesive plaster over the scrotum, thereby 

 tending to support the circulation in the part. When abscesses 



