Hypothesis 3: bacterial arthritis secondary to fracture.

Although we know that there was a fracture of the left front leg, we hypothesized that due to the wounds 
created by the obstetrical chains that a bacterial arthritis may have been part of the etiology of the calfŐs 
lameness.  It is possible that when the wounds were made by the chains that bacteria invaded the wounds 
and seeded in the pastern joint, thus leading to inflammation, pain, and a purulent exudate.   While this is 
not likely to explain the entire cause of lameness, it is possible that due to the bacterial infection, healing 
of the area was diminished. If we believed that this was the underlying cause of lameness, it would be 
advisable to obtain joint fluid for analysis.  We would expect in a septic joint, cloudy, turbid, synovial 
fluid that contains > 30000 WBC/mm3 and total protein level of > 4g/dl.