lOO OVARIOTOMY OF TROUBLESOME MARES. 



box door. She was condemned to be destroyed if ovariotomy 

 proved useless. 



The operation was performed under chloroform ; both ovaries 

 being badly cirrhotic and cystic (M'Fadyean). 



On the 26th I received a note to say that the mare had never 

 missed a feed. On the 23rd she swished her tail a little, on the 

 24th stamped her foot and squealed in a half-hearted way, but 

 when her head was held she could be stroked, patted, or even 

 rubbed over with a brush, without causing any serious signs of 

 irritation. 



On the 2nd of July she was sent to work, being perfectly quiet 

 in harness and to clean and handle about the legs. She still 

 squealed and struck out with the forefeet in a half-hearted way 

 when the bridle was put on so that this had to be done over the 

 box door, but in harness and to be harnessed she was quite 

 manageable. She worked regularly until the 12th when, during 

 the afternoon (this was Sunday and she had been at rest all day) 

 she was suddenly seized with violent abdominal pain and died 

 on the 13th of twisted gut. 



The post-mortem revealed a very large number of ascarides 

 in the small intestine and caecum. The ovarian stumps had 

 healed perfectly. 



No. 23. 1st August 1902. — Bay hunter mare, eight years old. 

 When in oestrum she was very irritable and uncertain in temper, 

 she would squeal and kick, urine squirting away involuntarily. 

 She had got much worse during the past twelve months, and 

 was now too much of a nuisance at these times to take into 

 the hunting field. The ovaries were cirrhotic and cystic. 



On the 6th August she was exercised. On the 30th I received 

 a note from the veterinary surgeon by whom I had been con- 

 sulted, to say that " the mare made quite an uneventful recovery 

 after the operation. She ailed nothing at all and the owner is 

 now riding her about his farm as usual. She has not yet quite 

 got over her indecent habit, but the owner tells me she is not 

 so bad as she used to be." 



