PREPARATIONS.
The preparations to which the animal is to be subjected previous to undergoing the operation are the same as those which are required in other cases of surgical manipulation. Some portions of the preparations are, perhaps, of even greater importance, and may not, on any account, be overlooked, when we take into consideration the peculiar position in which the animal must frequently be secured in order effectually to control his movements. Hence, a low diet for twenty-four hours preceding that appointed for the operation, and an empty stomach at the time of castration, with a thorough washing of the sheath, are precautions which no surgeon entitled to the name will overlook or neglect, especially when a soliped is to be subjected to the knife. We shall discuss hereafter the indications in the case of the castration of large females.