Special Report on Diseases of the HorseUnited States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Science
Special Report on Diseases of the Horse
United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Horses -- Diseases
_Bleeding after castration._--Bleeding from the wound in the scrotum and
from the little artery in the posterior portion of the spermatic cord
always occurs, and in warm weather may appear to be quite free. It
scarcely ever lasts, however, more than 15 minutes, and is easily
checked by dashing cold water against the part.
Bleeding from the spermatic artery in the anterior part of the cord may
be dangerous when due precaution has not been taken to prevent it. In
such case the stump of the cord should be sought for and the artery
twisted with artery forceps or tied with a silk thread. If the stump can
not be found, pledgets of tow wet with tincture of muriate of iron may
be stuffed into the canal to favor the formation of clot and the closure
of the artery.
_Strangulated spermatic cord._--If in castration the cord is left too
long, so as to hang out of the wound, the skin wound in contracting
grasps and strangles it, preventing the free return of blood and causing
a steadily advancing swelling. In addition the cord becomes adherent to
the lips of the wound in the skin, whence it derives an increased supply
of blood, and is thereby stimulated to more rapid swelling. The subject
walks stiffly, with a straddling gait, loses appetite, and has a rapid
pulse and high fever. Examination of the wound discloses the partial
closure of the skin wound and the protrusion, from its lips, of the end
of the cord, red, tense, and varying in size from a hazelnut upward. If
there is no material swell and little protrusion, the wound may be
enlarged with the knife and the end of the cord broken loose from any
connection with the skin and pushed up inside. If the swelling is
larger, the mass constitutes a tumor and must be removed. (See below.)
_Swelling of the sheath, penis, and abdomen._--This occurs in certain
unhealthy states of the system, in unhealthful seasons, as the result of
operating without cleansing the sheath and penis, or of keeping the
subject in a filthy, impure building, as the result of infecting the
wound by hands or instruments bearing septic bacteria, or as the result
of premature closure of the wound, and imprisonment of matter.
Pure air and cleanliness of groin and wound are to be obtained.
Antiseptics, like the mercuric-chlorid lotion (1 part to 2,000) are to
be applied to the parts; the wound, if closed, is to be opened anew, any
accumulated matter or blood washed out, and the antiseptic liquid freely
applied. The most tense or dependent parts of the swelling in sheath or
penis, or beneath the belly, should be pricked at intervals of 3 or 4
inches to a depth of half an inch, and antiseptics freely applied to the
surface. Fomentations with warm water may also be used to favor oozing
from the incisions and to encourage the formation of white matter in the
original wounds, which must not be allowed to close again at once. A
free, creamlike discharge implies a healthy action in the sore, and is
the precursor of recovery.
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