160 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



CRAMPS OF THE HIND LIMBS. 



The pressure of the distended womb on the nerves and blood vessels 

 of the pelvis, besides conducing to dropsy, occasionally causes cramps 

 of the hind limbs. The limb is raised without flexing the joints, the 

 front of the hoof being directed toward the ground, or, the spasms 

 occurring intermittently, the foot is kicked violently against the 

 ground several times in rapid succession. The muscles are felt to be 

 firm and rigid. The cramp maj' be promptly relieved by active rub- 

 bing, or by walking the animal about, and it does not reappear after 

 parturition. 



CONSTIPATION. 



This may result from compression by the gravid womb, and is best 

 corrected by a graduated allowance of boiled flaxseed. 



PARALYSIS. 



The pressure on the nerves of the pelvis is liable to cause paralysis 

 of the hind limbs, or in the mare of the nerve of sight. These are 

 obstinate until after parturition, when they recover spontaneously, or 

 under a course of nux vomica and (locally) stimulating liniments. 



PROLONGED RETENTION OF THE FETUS ( FOAL) . 



In the mare, though far less frequently than in the cow, parturition 

 may not be completed at term, and the foal may continue to be carried 

 in the womb for a number of months, to the serious or even fatal 

 injury of the mare. Hamon records one case in which the mare died 

 after carrying the fetus for seventeen months, and Caillier a similar 

 result after it had been carried twenty-two months. In these cases 

 the fetus retained its natural form, but in one reported by Gohier, the 

 bones only were left in the womb amid a mass of aj^parently i^urulent 

 matter. 



Cause. — The cause may be any effective obstruction to the act of 

 parturition, such as lack of contractile power in the womb, unduly 

 strong (inflammatory) adhesions between the Avomb and the fetal 

 membranes, wrong presentation of the fetus, contracted pelvis (from 

 fracture or disease of the bones), or disease and induration of the 

 neck of the womb. 



The mere prolongation of gestation does not necessarily entail the 

 death of the foal ; hence the latter has been born alive at the four 

 hundredth day. Even when the foal has perished, putrefaction does 

 not set in imless the membranes (water bags) have been ruptured and 

 septic bacteria have been admitted to the interior of the womb. In 

 the latter case a fetid decomposition advances rapidly, and the mare 

 usually perishes from poisoning with the putrid matters absorbed. 



At the natural period of parturition preparations are apparently 

 made for that act. The vulva swells and discharges much mucus, the 

 udder enlarges, the belly becomes more pendent, and the animal 



