PERITONITIS.
This complication, considered as one of the most frequent following castration, is also, beyond doubt, one of the most serious. It is generally the result of exposure to cold, especially when its occurrence accompanies the suppurative fever. But it also develops itself in animals which have received the best hygienic care, its appearance being attributed to an excessive dragging of the cord, or to the extension of the local inflammation by continuity of tissues. It manifests itself generally between the second and third day following the operation, except when it becomes symptomatic, as of gangrene of the cord, when we have seen it making its appearance towards the tenth day.
The symptoms of this traumatic peritonitis differ somewhat from those of the acute inflammatory type. According to Gourdon, “the animal is dull and refuses all food—the suppuration of the wound of the scrotum has ceased, the bags and surrounding parts become the seat of a warm, hard and painful swelling. The animal stands with his four legs brought close together, the back is stiff and arched, the flanks are cordy, the abdomen painful, the pulse hard, small and increased. As the disease progresses, the symptoms are more marked, the enlargement of the envelopes increases and is more diffuse, it extends down to the abdomen, and even under the chest, passes along the thighs, is less warm, less hard, less painful, and pits under pressure. There are slight colics, the pulse gets smaller, intermittent, the respiration is increased, and the animal dies towards the fifth or sixth day.”
The treatment to be recommended varies according to different authors. While some prescribe depletive and sedative treatment, laxatives and diuretics, many prefer tonics and stimulants. The Germans claim great results from the use of tincture of arnica (in small doses) administered internally. The external treatment consists in sinapisms, warm fomentations, poultices, or fumigations under the abdomen.